Philadelphia, PA - Any Olympic disappointment for Alan Webb was long forgotten in the 5000m at the 111th Penn Relays at the University of Pennsylvania on a chilly, breezy evening on 28 April.

Webb, who failed to advance out of the first round of the 1500 meters in Athens, won the 5000m in a career-best 13:30.25 in his season debut. Weaving his way through lapped runners on the final four circuits, Webb out-dueled runner-up Joseph Kosgei of Kenya (13:32.98) to pull away in the final 200m to win comfortably by 15m.

"I was hurting in the middle but with 1200m to go, I was still feeling pretty good and started rolling the last 800m," Webb said.

Expectations dashed in Athens

Webb entered the Olympics with high expectations after running 3:50.85 for the fastest time on American soil in the Pre Classic last June and 3:32.73 in the Ostrava Grand Prix last June.

It was Webb's first improvement since 2001 when he clocked 3:53.42 to smash the 1965 American high school record of 3:55.3 set by Jim Ryun.

In the Olympics, however, Webb made an early exit after finishing ninth in his first-round heat in 3:41.25.

"I ran well in 95 percent of my races but if a bad race had to happen, it had to happen," Webb said. "It was just bad timing.''

Breakthroughs in 5000m

Webb, who has a tattoo with the Japanese characters for "Courage" on his right bicep, has dropped his personal best in the 5000m by more than 30 seconds over the last three years.

He ran 13:46.31 to win last year's Penn 5000m for a 15-second drop over his 2002 best. Webb knocked off more than 16 seconds off on Thursday night in cooler but windier conditions.

"If I keep doing this for the next five years, I'll run 12:30," Webb said with a laugh. "I am still a miler but I wanted to run significantly faster than I did here last year. I wanted to get the season off with some strength work. Now, all I have to do is get is get some speed work in to get really fast.''

Webb to double in Sprint Medley

Webb will get a change of pace on Saturday in the sprint medley marquee USA Vs The World competition in the final day of the three-day meeting. He will run an 800 anchor on an American team that is expected to include 2004 Olympic gold sprint medallist Justin Gatlin and Shawn Crawford.

"They wanted me to run the 200m leadoff and handoff to Justin but I didn't have my block starts down," Webb said, jokingly.

Back to the basics

After the Olympics, Webb returned to his training base of Reston, Va. to train with his high school coach Scott Raczko in preparation for a bid for the 2005 season. Webb left Raczko to attend the University of Michigan after high school but returned in 2003 to turn professional and relinquish his collegiate eligibility.

I did so much last year that this year, I felt that I just built upon it," Webb said. "I've just made improvements all winter and all spring.''

Largest Meet in the United States

Thursday's competition kicked off the largest meet in the U.S. with more than 22,000 competitors that will span 33 hours and more than 400 races, an average of one nearly every five minutes.

Amy Mortimer won the women's 5000m in a solo-effort 15:48.13.

In the college women's 400m Hurdles, South Carolina's Tiffany Ross- Williams ran 55.70 for the second fastest time in the relay's history to defeate teammate Shevon Stoddart.

In the high school 400m Hurdles, Nicole Leach of Philadelphia West Catholic High, who finished fourth in the IAAF World Junior Championships in Grosseto last summer, won in 57.44 to break her meet record.