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The USA Outdoor Track & Field Championships started today and run through Sunday, June 27th, at Drake Stadium in Des Moines, Iowa.

The only (non-Junior) finals today were the women's Triple Jump and the men's and women's 10,000m races.

Women's Triple Jump Final:

Erica McLain won the event as expected, with a solid 14.18m/46-6.25. However, it was not an easy win, as she fouled four of her six attempts and runner-up Shakeema Welsch was just 4 inches behind her in 14.07/46-2. Welsch was the 2009 indoor and outdoor triple jump national champion as well as a 2004 Olympian.

McLain talks to RunnerSpace.com below about reading sports psychology books to work on her mentality and says she was disappointed she didn't get the American Record today.

Men's 10,000m Final:

Galen Rupp, the overwhelming favorite in a field missing Chris Solinsky, who set the American Record in the event at the Payton Jordan Invitational on May 2nd. Rupp was content in the middle of the pack, letting James Carney be the one to begin pushed the pace with approximate four miles remaining. Rupp and Ed Moran were eventually the only two left in contention, with Rupp taking over at 9400m to easily win in 28:59.29 to Moran's 29:03.17.

Women's 10,000m Final:

As expected, this race was a duel between Olympian and 2009 US Champion Amy Begley and top pro "recruit" Lisa Koll, who just completed her NCAA eligibility at Iowa State and just this week announced her signing with Peter Stubbs Management as her representation. She wore her red and yellow uniform for what is probably the last time in tonight's 10K in front of the Iowa crowd.

Marathon Olympian Blake Russell, returning for her first season back after having a baby boy last year, took the lead in the beginning and led the field for most of the race. When Koll took over around four miles and began to push the pace, only Begley and Amy Hastings went with her. The Iowa crowd stayed in the stands for the night's final event of 25 laps to cheer for their homegrown athlete, but with one lap to go, it was clear who the veteran was, as Begley took command at the bell and quickly put several seconds of real estate between herself and Koll, as Hastings faded to 5th behind Desiree Davila and Russell.

  1 Amy Begley                       Nike                   32:06.45
  2 Lisa Koll                        Iowa State             32:11.72
  3 Desiree Davila                   Hansons-Brooks         32:22.32
  4 Blake Russell                    Reebok                 32:46.73
  5 Amy Hastings                 Brooks                   32:49.07
  6 Megan Hogan                 George Washington         32:52.84
  7 Katie McGregor               Team USA Minnesota    32:58.62

Of note is Megan Hogan in 6th, who according to Alison Wade on twitter, "played basketball in HS, went to Mt. Ida to play bball, transferred to GW, a cross-country only school, so she can't run NCAAs." Fascinating indeed to have such a talented athlete not competing amongst her peers.

Women's Steeplechase Prelims:

Bridget Franek (Penn State/unattached) and Nicole Bush (New Balance) seemed to be jogging but were actually running right on 10:00 pace the entire length of Heat 1. Franek looked the most relaxed and had the best water jumps in the field, while Bush pushed to stay up on Franek's shoulder after losing her slight lead. Still, both women looked comfortable with the pace. Franek won in 9:58.91 with Bush close behind in 10:00.69. The other automatically-qualifiers from Heat 1 were Juliane Masciana of The Janes, Shayla Houlihan of Brooks and Sarah Pease of Indiana.

In Heat 2, Lisa Aguilera (Nike) took the lead from the start, as she likes to do, and led until the finish, putting on a clinic in form over the barriers and the water jump. Aguilera, the former American Record holder, looked springy and fresh and should be a good matchup with Franek in the final on Saturday. Also in the mix will be Lindsey Allen (McMillan Elite), who placed 2nd closely behind Aguilera and seemed to stay just off her shoulder with ease throughout the race. The other three auto-qualifiers from Heat 2 were Kara June (Rogue Running), Jacqui Wentz of MIT and Stephanie Pezzullo (unattached).

Rounding out the field for Saturday's final are time-qualifiers Stephanie Garcia of Virginia, Rebeka Stowe of Kansas, Lauren Gregory of Georgetown and Alicia Nelson of Adams State. Kudos to the collegians in this event!

The Women's Steeplechase Final is on Sunday at 1:15pm CDT.

As for the rest of the prelims today, let's just say there weren't many surprises. Sanya Richards-Ross ran her first race of 2010, winning Heat 2 of the women's 400m prelims in 51.91. Tomorrow will be more action-packed as the fields get narrowed further and more finals are completed. Also, the Heptathlon and Decathlon start!

Here is FRIDAY's Schedule:

10:00	100m Hurdles	Women	Heptathlon
10:30	100m	Men	Decathlon
10:45	High Jump	Women	Heptathlon
11:30	Long Jump	Men	Decathlon
1:00	Shot Put	Women	Heptathlon
2:00	Shot Put	Men	Decathlon
2:50	200m	Women	Heptathlon
3:15	High Jump	Men	Decathlon
4:00	Discus Throw	Men	Final
4:15	3000m steeple	Men	1st Round
4:45	100m Hurdles	Women	1st Round
5:00	Hammer Throw	Men	Final
5:10	400m	Men	Decathlon
5:30	400m Hurdles	Women	1st Round
5:45	Pole Vault	Men	Final
5:55	100m	Women	Semi-Final
6:00	Triple Jump	Men	Final
6:00	Javelin Throw	Women	Final
6:10	100m	Men	Semi-Final
6:25	1500m	Men	1st Round
6:45	400m	Women	Semi-Final
7:00	400m	Men	Semi-Final
7:15	800m	Women	Semi-Final
7:30	800m	Men	Semi-Final
7:45	400m Hurdles	Men	Semi-Final
8:04	100m	Women	Final
8:14	5000m	Women	Final
8:35	5000m	Men	Final
8:52	100m	Men	Final

What to watch on Friday (also known as What I Know the Most About):

Women's Heptathlon - starting at 10am CDT:

The bad news is: no Brianne Theisen in the hep or Ashton Eaton in the dec. The NCAA Champion couple must have decided that their season at Oregon was enough excitement for 2010, and can you really blame them?

Besides, we have Hyleas Fountain! Fountain was the silver medalist at the Beijing Olympics. The only other American to win an Olympic medal in the hep is legendary athlete Jackie Joyner-Kersee. Fountain tied the American Record in the indoor pentathlon at the World Indoor Championships just a few months ago, placing 4th. She is the strong favorite in this year's US Championships but look for strong performances from 2008 Olympian Sharon Day as well as Bettie Wade, who is having her best season of her career thus far.

Men's Decathlon - starting at 10:30am CDT:

We're missing NCAA star Ashton Eaton and Olympic Gold Medalist Bryan Clay (who pulled out of a meet in the Czech Republic on June 15th due to a groin injury) but we do have 2003 World Champ and 4-time National Champ Tom Pappas.

Men's Discus FINAL - 4pm CDT:

Who to watch:

• Jason Young
• Jarred Rome
• Casey Malone

Women's 100m Hurdles - Prelims at 4:45pm CDT:

Who to watch: 

• Lolo Jones - home court advantage
• Damu Cherry
• Ginnie Powell

Men's Hammer Throw FINAL - 5pm CDT:

Who to watch:

• A.G. Kruger
• Thomas Freeman
• Kibwe Johnson

Women's 400m Hurdles Prelims - 5:30pm CDT:

No Lashinda Demus? She must be injured. Hopefully it is nothing serious. Also no Queen Harrison, who recently exhausted her eligibility at Virgina Tech. Harrison is fine and is going to compete in Europe in a few weeks. When asked on Twitter why she is not competing at USA's, she replied

After two full track seasons I felt like trying to run against the best in the country at USAs after such a long season while all of the pros were just getting started up would leave me at a disadvantage AND my preparations for when I go on the European circuit in a couple weeks called for me to have to sit this meet out :(

A very mature decision for a young athlete with a long and bright future in track and field ahead. (Check out an internet radio interview with Harrison HERE.) Still, the field for this event is strong, with Sheena Tosta, Ti'erra Brown and Dominique Darden leading the list.

Men's Pole Vault FINAL - 5:45pm CDT:

Who to watch:

• Derek Miles
• Brad Walker

Men's Triple Jump FINAL - 6pm CDT:

Who to watch:

• Sophomore Christian Taylor of Florida, the 2010 indoor and outdoor NCAA Champion
• 2007 World Team member Lawrence Willis

Women's Javelin FINAL - 6pm CDT:

Who to watch:

• 2008 and 2009 US Champion Kara Patterson
• Former Oregon Duck Rachel Yurkovich, who recently PR'd, throwing the 3rd farthest ever by an American woman, behind Kim Kreiner and Kara Patterson.

Patterson and Yurkovich are good friends. Below, they are picture after placing 1st and 3rd, respectively, at the 2008 Olympic Trials. Photo by Getty Images.

Men's 1500m Prelim - 6:25pm CDT:

With 15 guys entered under 3:40, this is going to be a good one. These will not be prelims anyone gets to coast through. Some of the big names:

• Lopez Lomong
• Leonel Manzano
• David Torrence
• Matt Tegenkamp
• Russel Brown
• Will Leer
• Rob Myers
• A.J. Acosta

The men's and women's 400m and 800m fields will be narrowed down a final time on Friday as will the men's 400m hurdle field. For all you non-track-geeks, that means the semi-finals are on Friday.

Women's 100m FINAL - 8:04pm CDT

This will mark the beginning of the live TV coverage on ESPN. Barring any unforeseen mishaps in the semi-final earlier in the afternoon, tune in to watch:

• Allyson Felix
• LaShaunte'a Moore
• Alexandria Anderson
• Shalonda Solomon
• Jeneba Tarmoh
• The Barber Twins

Women's 5,000m FINAL - 8:14pm CDT

I can't wait to watch this! I'm assuming they won't show all 12 1/2 laps on ESPN, so I hope the live feed is up and running as well so we can see it all. This will be a tight race between some fierce women.

• Shannon Rowbury - doubling in the 1500m
• Shalane Flanagan - ditto
• Jenny Barringer - scratched the steeple and the 15 to focus on the 5
• Molly Huddle - having a PR season
• My personal dark horse favorite Rebecca Donaghue

Men's 5,000m FINAL - 8:35pm CDT

I'm thinking Bernard Lagat just might take this one. Is it even going to be a race? Probably a pretty good race for second. I'm guessing this will be a sit-and-kick race as no one will want to be the idiot who takes the lead over the American Record holder, but the AR holder himself won't want to lead. Madness will ensue in the final lap!

Men's 100m FINAL - 8:52pm CDT

See how they sandwich the meet between the women's and men's 100m so people stick around? Sneaky. If you're reading this, you probably didn't need the bribing though. Anyway...

• Walter Dix
• Travis Padgett
• Ivory Williams

I'm embarrassed I don't know more about the field events. This is a similar phenomenon to what happens often with women's sports - if they don't get the coverage, they don't get the fans because no one knows the faces, what is considered a good performance, and so on. Hopefully the ESPN team does a good job of informing us on the happenings on the field and not just the track tomorrow evening.

How to Follow the Meet:

• Schedule and Results HERE
• Flotrack LIVE Coverage HERE
• RunnerSpace/USATF LIVE Coverage HERE
• ESPN, June 25 8:00-10:00 pm 
  ESPN2, June 26 1:00-2:30 pm 
  NBC, June 26 3:00-4:00 pm 
  ESPN, June 27 1:00-2:30 pm 
  NBC, June 27 3:00-4:00 pm 
• Follow the Women Talk Sports Track & Field Twitter Listhere:@womentalksports/track-field
• Follow me on Twitter at @AnnGaff for color commentary and discussion

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• USA Outdoor Track & Field Championships

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