UW volunteer coach Sam Prakel sets 1500m personal best at Music City Distance Carnival...

NASHVILLE, Tennessee--University of Washington volunteer coach Sam Prakel (photo by Paul Merca) set a personal best in the 1500 meters Saturday night with his second place finish in the elite section of the Music City Distance Carnival, contested at Lipscomb Academy.

Prakel, a former Pac-12 1500 meter champ while at the University of Oregon, ran 3:36.54 to eclipse his previous personal best of 3:36.84, set in 2018, as Oliver Hoare of Australia, who was the 2018 NCAA 1500m champ at the University of Wisconsin, ran 3:34.63 to take the win, along with a personal best.

Lake Washington HS grad Dillon Maggard dropped down in distance and finished eighth in 3:40.03.

In the women's 1500, Washington alum Amy-Eloise Neale finished fifth in the top heat, running 4:09.44, as Cory McGee won in a personal best 4:03.64.

Neale's time was just off of her personal best of 4:09.31, set in Los Angeles last year.

Former Pasco HS standout Marisa Howard dropped down in distance, and finished 11th in 4:16.31, while Washington alum Katie Mackey was twelfth in 4:16.40.

Erik Sowinski of the Brooks Beasts, who has been training apart from the team at his home in Iowa, finished fourth in the top section of the men's 800m in 1:46.99, as Michael Saruni of Kenya, the collegiate record holder at this distance while at Texas-El Paso, won in 1:46.13.

Complete results of the Music City Distance Carnival are available here.

NOTE: The Music City Distance Carnival contributed to this report.

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