UW alum Aaron Ahl finds himself on the bubble of going to Tokyo in the steeple...
Olympic silver medalist and College Place native Kenneth Rooks led through the first six laps of the race, with training partner Daniel Michalski, the runner-up at the Toyota USATF Outdoor Championships, tucked behind Rooks, with Ahl behind Michalski.
Rooks, who already had the standard when he ran 8:06.41 in the Olympic final last year, had no incentive to run in this race, other than to help Michalski, who after last weekend's run by eight athletes at the IFAM Outdoor Meeting in Oordegem, Belgium who hit or went under the world championship standard of 8:15.00, (including Washington alum Ed Trippas) had to go under 8:15 to assure his place in Tokyo.
Going into the weekend, 34 of the 36 spots in the men's steeplechase were occupied by runners with the standards.
After Rooks pulled aside, Michalski accelerated and opened up a gap on Ahl, running to victory in 8:14.07 to set a new meet record and more importantly, get under the world championship standard.
Ahl, who was still wearing a cast on his right wrist after falling at the Portland Track Festival, also got under the previous meet record of 8:22.55 set by Evan Jager of the USA, running a personal best of 8:17.17.
Rooks cruised it in, crossing the line in 8:26.52 for third.
For his second place effort, Ahl scored 1179 points, plus earned 135 points for a grand total of 1314 points, clearly the best of his top three marks in the qualifying period.
The mark gives Ahl a three meet average (three is required in the steeple and 5000) of 1232 points, which, pending the results of other meets around the world this weekend, puts him at number 37, taking into account Michalski going under the standard, and subtracting other athletes over the three per country quota.
In the men's javelin, Walla Walla native Dash Sirmon, who finished second at the USA championships behind Curtis Thompson, finished second as well today behind him.
Thompson threw 286-2 (87.22m) to break his own meet record set three years ago.
Sirmon, who was looking to advance in the Road to Tokyo standings, threw a best of 252-9 (77.04m).
For his second place effort, Sirmon scored 1059 points, plus earned 145 points for a grand total of 1204 points, clearly the best of his top five marks in the qualifying period.
Sirmon's five-meet average after the NACAC championships boosts him up to 1112 points in the Road to Tokyo, with 1137 points currently in the 36th position.
In the women's 5000, incoming University of Washington grad transfer Chloe Thomas finished fourth in 15:39.77, as Anisledis Ochoa Suarez of Cuba won in 15:35.80.
Thomas' time was worth 1087 points, plus 105 bonus points for a total of 1192 points, giving her a three race average of 1169, currently 12 points short of the 42nd and final quota mark of 1181 points.
The qualifying period for the Tokyo World Championships ends on August 24th, so athletes have one week to find meets to either hit the standard or gain enough world ranking points to get inside the quota.
NOTE: World Athletics, Athletics Canada, and NACAC Athletics contributed to this report.
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