In a low-key meet arranged on only a month's notice, a relaxed-looking Kara Goucher moved a step closer to Beijing last Saturday, easily scoring the Olympic "A" standard for 10,000 meters. Needing to break 31:45, she hit 31:26.48, with the difference coming largely on the strength of a strong closing 800 meters.

The "A" standard is a qualifying time potential Olympians need in order to go to the Olympics. It doesn't guarantee a berth -- athletes must also place in the top three in the Olympic Trials, to be held later this month in Eugene, Oregon. But neither Goucher nor her coach, Alberto Salazar, wanted to risk having to make the standard at the Trials.

"You don't know what [might] happen," Salazar said. "What if it's a slow, tactical race or it happens to be 100 degrees?"