Torrential downpour scraps HokaOneOne Middle Distance Classic...

LOS ANGELES—Before the rains came, there was supposed to be some high caliber racing at the HokaOneOne Middle Distance Classic at Jack Kemp Stadium on the campus of Occidental College.

The meet was hit with a torrential downpour with only the remainder of the men’s 1500 and the 5000s left to contest, and after waiting it out, the decision was made to scrap the rest of the meet.

Washington alum Katie Mackey (left/photo by Paul Merca) of the Brooks Beasts, who won this meet two years ago in a stadium record 4:04.60, won the women’s 1500 in a time of 4:07.51 over Gabiele Grunewald (4:07.67) but was short of the IAAF world championship standard of 4:06.50.

Teammate Cas Loxsom, fresh off a gold-medal winning performance at the World Relays meet two weeks ago, won the men’s 800 in 1:46.23.  Mark Wieczorek was sixth in 1:46.58, while Nick Symmonds of the Beasts was 12th in 1:49.81.

In other events:

—Club Northwest’s Jamie Cheever was 10th in the women’s steeple in 9:57.82.  WSU alum Collier Lawrence of Oiselle was 11th in 9:57.82, while UW alum and sister Mel Lawrence was 15th in 10:14.95;

—The women’s 800 saw Seattle’s Phoebe Wright finish 8th in 2:02.18.  Camas HS senior Alexa Efraimson was 13th in 2:03.21, as she won her heat, with training partner and SPU grad McKayla Fricker second (15th overall) in 2:03.50.  Megan Malasarte of the Beasts was 7th in her heat (26th overall) in 2:06.54; 

—Only one heat of the men’s 1500 was completed before the rains came and cancelled the rest of the meet.  Riley Masters of the Brooks Beasts was sixth in 3:40.34, while Auburn/Riverside alum Jordan McNamara was seventh in 3:40.45.

The remaining heats of the 1500 were cancelled, along with the men’s and women’s 5000.

Results of the HokaOneOne Middle Distance Classic are available here.

NOTE:  USA Track & Field contributed to this report.