Lake Washington HS alum Dillon Maggard finishes second at USA Cross Country Champs...




SAN DIEGO--
Lake Washington HS grad and current Utah State volunteer assistant coach Dillon Maggard (Mike Scott photo) finished second at the USA Cross Country Championships, contested at Mission Bay Park on Saturday afternoon in a sprint finish.

The unsponsored `Maggard, who was a US Olympic Trials qualifier last year at both the 1500 and 10000, started the first of five 2k loops near the front of the pack, surrounded by Tokyo Olympian Benard Keter, along with former US cross country champions Shadrack Kipchirchir and Leonard Korir.

For most of the race, the four of them stayed at the front, with past national cross country team member Sam Chelanga also in the mix.

Maggard and Chelanga had the lead at the 8k mark, with Kipchirchir and Korir hot on their heels.

Kipchirchir opened up a gap on the final straight to win his second national title, crossing the line in 30:32, with Maggard second in 30:34, and Chelanga third in the same time.

Korir, a 2016 US Olympian, finished fourth in 30:37, while Keter was fifth in 30:49.

Tokyo Olympian and University of Colorado alum Alicia Monson won the women's 10k race in 34:01, ahead of New Mexico alum Weini Kelati's 34:18, and 2016 Olympian Emily Infeld's 34:36.

Zariel Macchia of Shirley, New York won the women's 6k under-20 title in convincing fashion, as the ninth-grader ran 22:50, 49 seconds ahead of Colleen Stegmann of Oklahoma State University.

In the men's under-20 8k, Oklahoma State's Gabe Simonsen won the national title in 25:42, eight seconds ahead of Chase Leach of Utah State University, as collegiate freshmen took the first six places.

The results of the USA Cross Country Championships are available here.

NOTE: USA Track & Field contributed to this report.

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