Henry Wynne leads Beasts with fifth place finish in 1500 on last day of Olympic Trials...

EUGENE--In a very exciting conclusion to the eight days of competition at the United States Olympic Track & Field Trials, Henry Wynne of the Brooks Beasts (Paul Merca photo for TrackTown USA)  finished fifth in the men's 1500 to lead a group of four athletes with Washington ties.

After the meet was postponed shortly before the 3:30 pm start of the men's long jump due to the excessive heat conditions in which Eugene reached 100 degrees for the second straight day, competition resumed at 8:30 pm Pacific time.

University of Washington volunteer assistant coach Sam Prakel was among those running up front at the 9:40 pm start, knowing that his best chance at an Olympic berth was to have it go fast, as half the field of 12 did not hold the Olympic qualifying standard.

After a 58.5 first 400 by Eric Avila, the pace inexplicably slowed to 1:59.13 at 800, favoring the six with the Olympic standard, including Wynne.

And as quickly as the pace slowed, the pace accelerated after 800 meters, as former Washington volunteer coach  and defending Olympic champ Matthew Centrowitz jumped to the front, with Prakel on his hip at 1200, crossed by Centrowitz at 2:56.29.

Oregon's Cole Hocker made a late charge, catching Oregon alum Centrowitz in the home straight to get the win in 3:35.28, followed by Centrowitz in 3:35.34, and Yared Nuguse of Notre Dame in 3:36.19.

Wynne was fifth in 3:37.70, followed by Prakel in ninth at 3:38.67.

Recent Ole Miss grad Waleed Suliman, who joined the Beasts last week, finished 11th in 3:40.08, while Beasts teammate David Ribich was 12th in 3:44.43.

Despite the victory, Hocker does not hold the Olympic standard of 3:35.00, so he will most likely be bumped by fourth place finisher Craig Engels, who has the standard.

In the women's 800, Nia Akins of the Beasts finished ninth in 2:12.87, as Athing Mu won in a world leading time of 1:56.07.

In an event staged at 10 am, former Puyallup resident Hassan Mead finished 11th in the 5000, running 13:47.85, while Garrett Heath of the Brooks Beasts was 14th in 13:55.33, as Paul Chelimo won in 13:26.82.

The highlight of Sunday's competition was a world record in the 400 hurdles by Sydney McLaughlin, who ran 51.90 and became the first woman to break 52 seconds in the event.

Also reigning world champion Noah Lyles ran a world leading time of 19.74 to win the men's 200 meters, and Annie Kunz, who competed at Dempsey Indoor in late February, scored a personal best of 6703 points to get the Olympic standard and win the heptathlon.

The complete results along with all results from previous days are available here.

NOTE: NBC Sports, TrackTown USA and USA Track & Field contributed to this report.

paulmerca.blogspot.com may receive a commission for any purchases made from links clicked. Please support this site and our sponsors by clicking on the links.