Josh Kerr, Brannon Kidder & Marisa Howard all duck under world champs standards at Azusa Sunset Tour...

AZUSA, California—With the Toyota USA Outdoor Track & Field Championships two weeks away, a group of distance runners with ties to the state of Washington took to the track Tuesday evening at Cougar Stadium on the campus of Azusa Pacific University for the Sunset Tour, a distance-only track meet organized by former Brooks sports marketing manager Jesse Williams, as an opportunity to chase the Olympic, world championships, and USA championships standards.

Josh Kerr (left/photo by Paul Merca) and Brannon Kidder of the Brooks Beasts both ducked under the world championships standard in the 800 with their third and fourth place finishes, running 1:45.35, and 1:45.39, respectively. NCAA champ Bryce Hoppel from Kansas got the win in a stadium record 1:44.48, and earned an Olympic qualifying standard in the process.

Pasco HS alum Marisa Howard ran a season best 9:36.46 in the 3000 steeplechase and got under the world championship standard of 9:40.00 to finish third, as Vancouver BC native Regan Yee took the win in a time of 9:35.49.

Allie Buchalski of the Beasts finished fourth in the women’s 5000, running 15:22.29, and just missing the world championships standard of 15:22.00.

Karissa Schweizer of the Nike Bowerman TC took the win in a time of 15:01.63, towing teammates Marielle Hall (15:02.27) and Vanessa Fraser (15:07.58) under the Olympic standard of 15:10.00.

2016 US Olympian and Emerald Ridge HS standout Hassan Mead finished second in the men’s 5000, as he ran 13:27.71 to finish behind fellow Olympian Lopez Lomong’s 13:25.13.

Dillon Maggard of the Brooks Beasts was sixth in the race in a time of 13:33.01, while Bellingham native David Elliott was eighth in 13:34.88, as he got under the USATF qualifying standard of 13:35.00.

Georgetown alum and UW volunteer coach Amos Bartlesmeyer finished fifth in the men’s 1500, running 3:37.44, while fellow Husky volunteer coach Sam Prakel was sixth in 3:37.54. Olympian Ben Blankenship of the Nike Oregon TC Elite took the win in 3:36.22.

In her debut performance as a member of the Brooks Beasts, Karisa Nelson finished fifth in the women’s 1500, running 4:09.33, while teammate and Washington alum Katie Mackey was seventh in 4:10.56. Nikki Hiltz won the race in 4:05.97.

Results of the Sunset Tour meet are available here.

WINGER FIFTH IN LUCERNE…

Vancouver native Kara Winger finished fifth in the javelin at the Spitzer Leichtathletik meeting in Lucerne, Switzerland Tuesday.

Winger, the three-time US Olympian, threw a best of 206-4 (62.89m), as Kelsey Barber of Australia won with a best of 222-1 (67.70m), currently the second best throw in the world this season.

Results of the Spitzer Leichtathletik meeting are available here.

WSU JAVELIN THROWER ATINA KAMASI TRANSFERS TO MISSOURI…

Atina Kamasi, a two-time Pac-12 scorer in the javelin at Washington State University, announced on both her Instagram and Twitter accounts that she is transferring to the University of Missouri.

View this post on Instagram

Super excited to announce that I will be continuing my academic and athletic career in UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI! 💪🏽 So grateful for this opportunity @miz_trackfield! 🙏🏽 #letsgetit #tigertough

A post shared by Atina (@atinakamasi) on Jul 9, 2019 at 7:23am PDT

The native of Serbia was fifth in the 2017 Pac-12 championships and sixth in 2018. Kamasi threw a personal best of 175-1 (53.36m) to win the 2018 dual meet against Washington, a mark that is second best in school history. She also holds the WSU freshman record at 171-9 (52.32m).

Kamasi put herself on the NCAA transfer portal late this spring. She did not compete in the 2019 season due to injury.

NOTE:  The Sunset Tour, Finished Results, and the IAAF contributed to this report.