Former Seattle resident Jessica McClain finishes eighth in world championships marathon...
TOKYO--Former Brooks Beast and Seattle resident Jessica McClain (Paul Merca photo) hung on to finish eighth in the marathon to cap her debut performance on a US senior national team early Sunday morning at the World Athletics Championships on the streets of Tokyo.
After starting the race inside Japan National Stadium with over two laps of the track under temperatures in the low 80s and 72 percent humidity, the field left the venue for some loops through the city.
McClain and USA teammate Susanna Sullivan took the lead and held it for the first ten kilometers before Sullivan went out on her own.
Sullivan had about a 27 second lead past the half marathon point over McClain, before a group of four runners, led by Tigst Assefa of Ethiopia and Peres Jepchirchir of Kenya swallowed up Sullivan and McClain before the 30 kilometer mark.
Assefa and Jepchirchir dueled it out over the final twelve plus kilometers, entering Japan National Stadium together, before Jepchirchir turned on the jets over the last 200 meters, getting the win in 2:24:43 to Assefa's 2:24:45.
Arkansas alum Julia Paternain of Uruguay finished third to give her country the first medal of any color, running 2:27:23.
Sullivan finished in a season best 2:28:17, while McClain came across in eight in a season best 2:29:20.
In other action Sunday morning:
--Defending world champion Josh Kerr of the Brooks Beasts was second in his first round heat to easily advance to the semifinals of the mens' 1500, which will be contested Monday night.
Kerr ran controlled, running a time of 3:35.98.
In heat two, former Husky Sam Tanner of New Zealand finished tenth in 3:43.37, while in the fourth and final heat, Washington alum Kieran Lumb was knocked down with 200 meters to go, and finished 15th in 3:55.04.
He and the Canadian delegation tried to file an appeal to advance him to the next round, but the jury of appeals denied their protest.
The women's 100 hurdles heats saw former Washington State standout Charisma Taylor run 12.96.
VIKINGS SWEEP GATOR CROSS...
The opening women's 4k race saw Seattle Pacific's Maya Ewing (Jeff Halstead Photography) emerge with the win, running 13:43, eight seconds ahead of Western's Jill Philbin.
Western put seven runners in the top ten, running a 1-5 split of 21 seconds.
The Vikings scored 21 points to Seattle Pacific's 52. Saint Martin's was fourth with 92 points.
Western's men squeezed out a 35-41 win over the University of Portland, with Trinity Western of British Columbia third with 66 points.
Seattle Pacific was sixth with 163, and Saint Martin's was seventh with 185 points.
Jacob Hupke of Portland was the individual winner in 18:00, the same time as runner up George Fernandez of Western Washington.
Western put four runners inside the top ten and a 1-5 split of 34 seconds.
NOTE: The sports information offices of the University of Washington, the University of Arkansas, the University of Saskatchewan, and UCLA 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. You can also support the site by clicking the yellow "Buy Me A Coffee" link below.
Comments