Josh Kerr advances to Commonwealth Games mile final with win...
GLASGOW, Scotland--Josh Kerr (Paul Merca file photo) of the Seattle based Brooks Beasts and Scotland, along with former Washington Husky Sam Tanner comfortably advanced to the finals in the mile run Wednesday morning, as four runners with Washington ties competed in day 3 of the Commonwealth Games track and field competition.
Competing in heat one of the mile preliminaries, Kerr, who wore the same Brooks Hyperion 222 model that he used to set the world record two weeks earlier in London, won the heat in 3:58.57, just ahead of Kenya’s former world champion Timothy Cheruiyot, who ran 3:58.98.
Just behind the duo was former Washington Husky Sam Tanner of New Zealand in third in 3:59.11, as the top six in each of the two heats advanced to Saturday's finals.
In the same heat, finishing in seventh and eighth, were Kerr's Brooks Beast teammate Max Davies of Canada, who ran 4:01.42, and countryman and Washington alum Aaron Ahl, who finished in 4:03.30.
“It's going to be a war out there,” declared the Scot as he looked ahead to the Saturday night showpiece on home turf that has the potential to bring the house down at Scotstoun Stadium. “It's the home crowd, it’s our track, it's where we learned, it's our crowd. The rest of the guys want to take what’s ours. They will have to come with something on Saturday night because they are not going to get it easy.”
Given how slow the preliminary heat was relative to his world record 3:42.66, Kerr joked to reporters that the spikes were more of a hindrance, and that it was like driving a Formula One race car up the street to grab a coffee.
Since setting the world record, Kerr, who splits time between Seattle and Albuquerque, has prepared for the Commonwealth Games in nearby Edinburgh, where he grew up.
Courtesy of Athletics Weekly, here's Kerr's comments in the mixed zone:
In Tuesday's second day of competition, Washington alum Justin O'Toole of Canada was fifth in his heat, running 1:49.07.
“It was a pretty strong field for the first heat, and I didn't really want to leave it to chance. I was hoping I would have a little bit more on the close, but I didn't quite today. I did what I could. I think I have the heart, but just not quite the legs right now, and I think that's the way I'd rather have it,” O’Toole said.
Thursday, Washington alum Jami Schlueter starts off in the decathlon at 2:10 am Pacific/10:10 am local time.
Schlueter who became eligible to represent Nigeria in November 2025, set a Nigerian national record in the decathlon back in June, when he scored 8024 points at the John Green/Texas Greatest Combined Events meet in Dallas.
The former Husky is training over the last year in Fort Worth, Texas with a combined events group led by Chris Huffins, a former Cal All-American, and Marissa Chew, the current combined events coach at Texas Christian University.
Also competing Thursday is former Washington State standout Rosemary Longisa of Kenya.
Longisa, the reigning NCAA 1500 meter champion, who transferred to Iowa State after Laura Harmon was hired by the Cyclones, goes in the second heat of the mile at 4:05 am Pacific/12:05 pm local time.
The Commonwealth Games are being streamed and televised on CBC Sports (accessible on Seattle area Comcast; check with your cable company).
Results of the Commonwealth Games are available here (click on the date).
IN OTHER NEWS...
One mark we completely missed from the Irish national championships over the weekend was Washington alum Ronan McMahon-Staggs in the men's 1500 meters on Sunday.
Washington alum India Weir was named by Great Britain to its squad for the upcoming European Championships, which will be on home soil in Birmingham from August 10-16th.
Weir will run in the 5000 meters for the British squad.
NOTE: The Commonwealth Games, Athletics Weekly, Athletics Canada, Athletics Ireland, and British Athletics contributed to this report.
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