Lake Stevens native Taylor Roe gets world championships standard in 5000m in Los Angeles...
LOS ANGELES--Lake Stevens native Taylor Roe (Paul Merca photo) became the ninth American to attain the world championships standard in the women's 5000 meter run with her second place finish Saturday night at the Sound Running Sunset Tour at Jack Kemp Stadium on the campus of Occidental College.
Roe, a 2024 graduate of Oklahoma State, who now trains in North Carolina with the Puma Elite group, was in a pack of seven runners gunning for the world championships standard of 14:50.00.
The group of seven were all under 9 minutes at 3000, but needed to pick it up slightly to have a chance at the standard.
With four laps to go, the pace dropped from 71 and 72 seconds to 73 and 74 seconds, before Roe went to the front with two laps to go.
She had the lead at the bell after running a 68 second penultimate lap, but needed to run just over 65 seconds on the final lap.
Former Colorado standout Bailey Hertenstein timed her finish perfectly, passing Roe on the final straightaway to win in 14:48.91, with Roe exactly one second behind in 14:49.91.
Allie Buchalski of the Seattle based Brooks Beasts finished fifth in 15:00.79, just off her personal best of 14:57.54, while Washington alum Kayley DeLay of the Beasts was 12th in a personal best 15:07.77. Chloe Thomas, who will transfer into the UW this fall, was 15th in 15:18.40, just short of her personal best of 15:17.47, set at the University of Connecticut.
Seattle resident Sam Prakel, who had the misfortune of getting knocked down in the first 100 meters of the International Mile at the Nike Prefontaine Classic, bounced back with a big personal best.
Prakel, a University of Oregon grad who moved to Seattle to continue being coached by UW men's coach Andy Powell after he got the UW job in the fall of 2018, stayed patient, content to run in the middle of the pack.
As a group led by Fouad Messaoudi of Oklahoma State and Waleed Suliman of the Brooks Beasts tried to push the pace, Prakel began moving to the front. as did Drew Hunter and Sair Salgado.
Hunter had the fastest finish, running 54.63 on the last 400 to take the win in 3:33.41, with Salgado second in 3:33.87, and Prakel third in 3:33.93. All were shooting for the world championships standard of 3:33.00.
That was Prakel's first time under 3:34, with his previous personal best of 3:34.63 set two years ago at the Portland Track Festival.
In that race, Suliman was ninth in 3:35.09, and Beasts teammate Henry Wynne was 11th in 3:44.37.
Paris Olympian Brandon Miller of the Brooks Beasts won the B section of the men's 1500, running a huge personal best of 3:35.27. The mark eclipsed his previous PB of 3:42.23, set en route to his mile best of 3:57.81 in his hometown of St. Louis last month.
Other highlights:
--Valery Tobias was fifth in the women's 800 in 1:59.51, while in the men's 800, Isaiah Harris was fifth in 1:44.96, and Brannon Kidder eighth in 1:46.60. Kristie Schoffield of the Beasts was fifth in the B section of the women's 800 in 2:07.55.
--Washington alum Aaron Ahl was ninth in the 3000 steeplechase in 8:24.30, while in the B section, fellow alum Julius Diehr set a personal best, running 8:33.73.
--The B section of the women's 1500 saw Teagan Schein-Becker of the Beasts finish seventh in 4:10.61, with Woodinville native Olivia Markezich one spot behind in 4:10.95.
--Washington grad Acer Iverson finished second in the B section of the men's 5000, running 13:37.40, while incoming UW freshman Josiah Tostenson from Crater Lake HS in Oregon ran 14:15.94 to finish 16th.
HOUSER WINS 1500 AT ED MURPHEY CLASSIC...
In Memphis, Washington alum Luke Houser (Paul Merca photo) used a 54-second final 400 to overtake former Oregon standout Cooper Teare and win the men's 1500 at the Ed Murphey Classic on the campus of the University of Memphis Saturday night.
Houser was content to stay in the middle of the pack for the first 800, then got to fifth at 1000 meters.
At the bell, Houser moved to fourth, then got himself into second with 200 to go as he passed Craig Engels and George Couttie of Great Britain, who is Teare's training partner at Virginia Tech, where he trains with former Oregon distance coach Ben Thomas.
Houser, a two-time NCAA indoor mile champion at Washington, swung to the outside, passing Teare with 50 meters to go to get the win in 3:34.57 to Teare's 3:34.69.
In the post race interview, Houser, who is based in Atlanta with the Atlanta Track Club, said that his focus was on the US nationals in three weeks in Eugene, and that he's been working on his strength in practice.
In other events, Washington alum Cass Elliott finished fifth in the men's 800
Elliott, in his second full season as an 800 meter runner after competing at the University of Washington as a 400 meter hurdler, was aggressive from the start, going with the pacer, and going through the first 400 just under 51 seconds.
Elliott could not hold the lead and was passed with 200 meters to go, finishing with a time of 1:47.60.
Abdullani Hassan, a Canadian attending Mississippi State, won the race in 1:46.16.
Elliott, who is now based in Baltimore as part of Under Armour's middle distance group, has a personal best of 1:45.69, set last August in Fairfax, Virginia. That mark is just over the automatic qualifying standard of 1:45.60 for the USA championships at the end of the month in Eugene, but should get him in the meet.
Washington State alum and Ecuadorian Olympian Maribel Caicedo had a rough go in the finals of the women's 100 hurdles.
After running 12.98 in the pre-program to finish eighth in her heat, Caicedo hit one of the early hurdles, and was never in contention in the finals less than two hours later.
Caicedo finished ninth in a time of 13.24, as Alaysha Johnson won in a barely wind-aided (+2.1) 12.27.
Earlier in the day, Walla Walla native Dash Sirmon of the University of Nebraska finished third in the men's javelin, while Cheney native and former Eastern Washington standout Ryan Rieckmann was eighth.
Sirmon threw a best of 237-3 (72.31m) in the second round, while Rieckmann's best throw of 206-9 (63.03m) came in round three.
US Olympian Curtis Thompson won with a first round throw of 265-4 (80.89m).
WESTERN'S BEC BENNETT SIXTH IN BELGIUM...
At the Guldensporingmeeting in Kortrijk, Belgium, Western Washington rising senior Bec Bennett finished sixth in the top section of the women's 400 meters Saturday.
The Australian, who finally set a personal best in running a school and GNAC conference record 52.60 in Poznan, Poland last week, finished in a time of 54.03, as Myrte van der Schoot of the Netherlands won in 52.03.
Bennett's previous personal best was 52.61, set five years ago in Sydney.
WSU'S KAI TWADDLE-DUNHAM GOES TO AUBURN...
According to a post on his Instagram page, Washington State thrower Kai Twaddle-Dunham, another of the many affected by the school's decision to cut sprints, hurdles and field events, is headed to Auburn University.
As a freshman, Twaddle-Dunham, a native of Meridian, Idaho, finished third in the shot put at the MPSF indoor championships, to help the Cougars win the conference championship.
He had personal bests this season of 55-7.5 (16.95m) in the shot, and 187-4 (57.09m) in the discus.
Twaddle-Dunham finished second in the discus at the USATF U20 championships, throwing the lighter junior implement 202-9 (61.80m).
NOTE: European Athletics, World Athletics, the Ed Murphey Classic and Sound Running contributed to this report.
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