Rupp rolls to junior record in 3,000.

Byline: Curtis Anderson The Register-Guard

Galen Rupp earned himself an extra scoop of gelato on Sunday night.

The 19-year-old Oregon distance runner broke the oldest U.S. junior record on the books with a time of 7 minutes, 49.16 seconds in the 3,000 meters at an international track meet in Lignano, Italy.

Rupp, who finished fourth overall in the race, shattered the previous mark of 7:58.0 set by Washington State's Gerry Lindgren on July 5, 1965, at a meet in Karlsruhe, Germany, more than 40 years ago.

`I'm real excited. I wanted to break that record this year,' said Rupp, who was reached on his cell phone on his way to a late-night dinner of pasta and Italian ice cream.

`Lindgren ran that time in the 1960s, and if you consider the evolution of training methods, tracks and shoes, it shows how rare and gifted he was.'

Rupp now holds U.S. junior records in the 3,000, 5,000 and 10,000. Those records are restricted to athletes who do not turn 20 at any time during the calendar year in which the mark is made.

The 3,000 was won by Rupp's training partner, Adam Goucher, who clocked 7:40.09, the second-fastest 3K by an American this season, trailing Alan Webb's 7:39.28, which came during his American record two-mile race at the Prefontaine Classic at Hayward Field.

`Running with Adam gives me a lot of confidence, because I know I can stay with him for most of the race,' Rupp said.

`It was hot and humid. The race didn't start until 10:15 p.m., and we were all dripping sweat when we got to the starting line.'

Rupp, who opened at 1:02.1, ran each of the first five laps under 1:03.

He came through 2,000 meters at 5:11 and clocked 31 seconds for the final 200, according to his coach, Alberto Salazar.

`Galen stayed on Adam's shoulder for most of the race, and then Adam took off over the final stretch,' Salazar said.

Kenya's Muli Pius placed second at 7:46.82, followed by former Arkansas great Dan Lincoln at 7:48.79. Another ex-Razorback, Jonathan Riley, finished fifth with a time of 7:51.41.

Rupp's next race will be the 5,000 at the KBC Night of Athletics in Belgium on Saturday. It was in that same meet last summer that Rupp broke the U.S. junior record in the 5,000 (13:37.91) as a senior at Central Catholic High School in Portland.

The UO standout will then head to Canada for the 2005 Pan American Junior Championships at the University of Windsor in Windsor, Ontario, where he will run the mile on July 28 and the 1,500 on July 31.