Centrowitz sharpens up for nationals with win at Stumptown Twilight...
Centrowitz, who opened his 2019 season a few weeks ago at the Nike Prefontaine Classic after dealing with shin and hamstring injuries that curtailed his training through the winter and early spring, let the field do the work over the first three laps before moving over the last 300 to take the win in the men’s 1500 at the Stumptown Twilight at Griswold Stadium on the campus of Lewis & Clark College in a modest time of 3:39.08.
Japan’s Nanani Arai was second in 3:39.58, while Daniel Herrera of Mexico was third in 3:40.20, just ahead of Washington State’s Paul Ryan, who set a personal best of 3:40.98.
While he may have pulled away from the field in the last 300, the Olympic champ insisted that it wasn’t as easy as it looked.
“Around 600 to go, about 10 guys went by me it felt like,” he said. “That kind of woke me up a little bit and made me realize I can’t put myself in that kind of position at USAs.”
Even with a personal best, Ryan appears (pending scratches) to be the odd man out for next week’s Toyota USATF Outdoor Championships in Des Moines, Iowa. Afterwards, he expressed optimism that he may get into the field for the national championships. If not, he is considering running in the Canadian championships in Montreal next week, as his mother has Canadian citizenship.
Gonzaga’s Brandon Pollard was 14th in that heat, running 3:44.45, just off of his personal best of 3:44.32 set in May.
In other events involving Washington affiliated athletes:
—UW alum Eleanor Fulton was fourth in the women’s 1500, running a season best 4:11.43, while Pasco HS alum Marisa Howard finished seventh in a personal best 4:12.77.
Stanford alum Elise Cranny of the Bowerman TC took the win in 4:06.03, and ducked under the world championships standard of 4:06.50;
—Washington State alum Caroline Austin, who was accepted into next week’s national championships, won the women’s 3000 steeplechase in a season best 9:58.58;
—Olympia native Brooke Feldmeier was third in her heat of the 800 meters, running 2:06.09. She had hoped to run fast enough to be accepted into next week’s nationals.
Complete results of the Stumptown Twilight are available here.
MARISA HOWARD MAY BE ON THE PAN AM GAMES TEAM IN THE STEEPLE…
In a ruling that potentially affects a number of athletes that were originally named to the Pan Am Games team by USA Track & Field, arbitrator Christian Dennie Friday ruled that the federation must re-pick its entire roster based on the US performance list from January 1 to June 10, 2019.
Pasco native Marisa Howard, who is one of the athletes that is potentially affected by this ruling, informed publisher Paul Merca at the Stumptown Twilight meet that with this ruling, she may get to go to Lima, Peru and run the steeplechase at the Pan Am Games.
However, there is one caveat: The Association of Panamerican Athletics, which oversees the Pan Am Games, may choose not to accept the new roster, since the rosters were due in late June.
Bottom line: If the APA doesn’t accept the resubmitted roster, the athletes announced in the original USATF release are the athletes who get to compete in Peru.
Here’s a link to LetsRun.com’s article on the arbitration hearing, along with a link to the arbitration document.
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