metres record that she wept for 10 minutes.

The 22-year-old University of Vermont student had no idea she had smashed Jennifer Fisher's five-year-old record, even after she had defied the odds to beat a high-class field in the America East Conference meet in Dedham, Massachusetts on Saturday.

Only when her time of four minutes, 28.21 seconds was announced did Couper realise that she had achieved her dream of breaking the national record -- and then the floodgates opened.

"After the race, I was just excited about winning and I was hanging around talking to my coach and a few people,'' said Couper.

"Then I heard the time and I just burst into tears and I couldn't stop. I was crying on my coach's shoulder for 10 minutes.'' Couper's time bettered the old mark of 4:29.77, set by Fisher at the 1995 Pan Am Games in Mar del Plata, Argentina, by more than 1.5 seconds.

"It was my goal to break the national record, but I did not think I would do it this year,'' said Couper.

"I've had a couple of races that did not go so well this year and I took that to mean I was burnt out after a long season.

"I've been running competitively since September without a break and I thought the best I could hope for in this race was to go under my pb of 4:34.

I really surprised myself.'' In winning the race Couper overcame three opponents seeded ahead of her and helped her college women's team win the meet for the first time in 11 years.

"There were two girls from Boston University and one from the University of New Hampshire who had way better times than me,'' said Couper.

"My coach Robert Hoppler said if I just finished fourth, that would be enough for the team to win the meet and that's what I thought would happen.

"I just tried to hang onto the top three as long as I could. I was third going into the last 100 metres. The two Boston University girls were running together and I had to run all the way around them. It was a fairly close finish.

"It really helped a lot having fast runners in the field to chase.'' Couper, who won the Front Street Mile in January, said her rapid progress since running 4:34 at last June's CAC Games in Barbados was probably partly down to her efforts indoors during the winter.

"It's the first time I've done the indoor season and I ran quite a few fast 800 metres races and I think that must have helped.'' At the America East Conference Championships in Boston in February, Couper ran her first sub-five-minute mile indoors when she clocked 4:58.33 to finish fourth in a quality field.

She has also enjoyed remarkable success off the track and was named NCAA America East Student-Athlete for cross-country.

This weekend's New England college championships will be Couper's last before she takes a break to recover from eight months of constant competition. And then she will move on to take a Masters degree at Stanford University, where she expects to be training with a much higher calibre of athlete -- something she hopes will bring out her best.

Ashley Couper: smashed Jennifer Fisher's 1500m record.