Kenenisa Bekele of Ethiopia started his indoor season at the Valencia's World Champs dress rehearsal meet held in Valencia, Spain which will host the 2008 world indoor championship in March. Kenenisa Bekele who raced in the 3000 meters looked like he had a chance at breaking Daniel Komen’s World indoor 3000 meter record of 7:24.90 but after the race unraveled the world recorded started to slip away. Bekele asked for pacemakers who could bring him through 2000 meters under 5:00 minutes. However the pacemakers dropped out at 1600 meters and forced Bekele to take control of the race. The lead group which included Bekele passed 2000 meters in 5:02.26. After the pacesetter dropped out, the pace slowed down to a 1:05 for 400 meters. With a 26.2 last lap Bekele secured the victory, he finished in 7 minutes 36.08 second. Bekele said afterwards. “I’m satisfied since the most important thing for me today was not to break the World record, which is extremely tough to beat, but just to kick off my indoor season and feel comfortable on the track. Definitely today’s win was not a piece of cake.” (Quote from iaaf.org) 25 year old Yelena Soboleva of Russia and the 2006 world indoor, 2007 world outdoor 1500 meter silver medalist broke her own 1500 meter world indoor record by 23 hundredths of a second. February 2006 Soboleva set the world indoor record of 3:58.28. Two years later Solobelva broke her own record running 3:58.05. The 2008 Notre Dame Meyo Invitational had an outstanding performance in the Men’s Mile. Three people ran sub four minute miles but only one got the NCAA Division I “A” standard. Wisconsin had two of the top three spots including the winner Jack Bolas who finished in 3 minutes 59.40 seconds. Jordan Fife of the Brooks Team IN finished second in 3:59.75 and Brandon Bethke from Wisconsin finished third in 3:59.85. Morgan Uceny of Reebok won the Women’s Mile in 4 minutes 38.87 seconds, Jamie Cheever finished second in 3:39.54 and was the only collegian to get the NCAA Division I “A” standard. In the Ryan Shay 3000 meter race, in honor of the Notre Dame alumni who passed away in November, featured Jonathan Riley and Chris Solinsky of Nike. Throughout the race Riley and Solinsky kept in contact with each other, but Solinsky was no match for Riley’s powerful kick. Riley finished first in 7 minutes 51.24 second, kurt Benninger slipped right past Solinsky for second. Matt Withrow from Wisconsin who has been battling injuries for the past few years finished first in the Men’s 5000 meter race. One of the fastest indoor miles this year was ran at the Texas Tech Invitation which is 3000 feet above sea level. The mile feature Haron Lagat, Fred Sameio and pacer Kevin Chelimo. Lagat who goes to Texas Tech raced unattached, Lagat finished in 3 minutes 58.48 seconds. Fred Sameio finished second in 3:58.84. In the Men’s 400 meters Greg Nixon who raced unattached broke Jeremy wariner’s 400 meter ATC record (45.83), Nixon finished in 45.81 seconds. To see the complete coverage of the Meyo Invitational please visit Recent Coverage located on Flotrack’s home page. To see the complete results of these meets please visit Track and Field Recent Results. (Photo by EMPICS)