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Men's Results
Women's Results
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The men's race will surely go down as one of the greatest upsets we've ever seen in a US 1500 meter race, as Matthew Centrowitz continued his meteoric rise in the past month by beating one of the strongest 1500 fields in recent history. The Oregon junior entered NCAA Championships ago having never won an NCAA title. A mere two weeks later, he is an NCAA Champ, a US Champ, and has just slain US mid-distance giants Andrew Wheating, Leo Manzano, Lopez Lomong and Bernard Lagat (although he's now a distance giant).

As far as tactics, it was another slow one, as the pace CRAWLED through the first 1200 meters. Yet again (like the men's 10k), the slow pace meant that everyone in the field was bunched up throughout, as there was a tremendous amount of jostling, pushing and shoving in the pack.

"I tried to make moves 4 or 5 times to the outside...everytime I did it, (it looked like) there was going to be an MMA fight in front of me," said Will Leer, who finished fourth. full interview here

It looked to be playing right into the hands of Andrew Wheating and Bernard Lagat heading into the final 100. Bernard took off and it looked to be game over, but Centro went with and bided his time. With just about 20 meters to go, Centro inexplicably found another gear and caught the Olympic champ in the final meters, capturing an unlikely win. 



Leo Manzano, always a huge kicker, passed most of the field in the final 90 meters to close out a spot on the podium. Wheating, on the other hand, went backward down the final stretch. He continued to reel over the final 50 meters and, sensing the urgency to save his spot on the team, dove at the line to just hold off a surging Will Leer by one hundredth of a second! Because Lagat will focus on the 5k at Worlds, Wheating dodged a huge bullet here with his off-day.

The women's race saw Christin Wurth-Thomas take it out honest and try to eliminate a few kickers from contention. Never afraid to push the pace early, Wurth-Thomas had a sizeable lead on the field even as late as 1300 meters. However, coming around the curve you could tell she was laboring, and Morgan Uceny was starting to really hammer.

As the ladies rounded the curve and headed into the homestretch, it was apparent that Uceny, who displayed a great kick here weeks ago at the Pre Classic, was going to run away with it. However, what was more surprising was seeing Wurth-Thomas fade greatly with 50 meters to go. With about 30 to go, Simpson passed a wobbly Wurth-Thomas to capture 2nd place. Christina tried to move out into lane 2 to keep from being nipped in the final strides, but Shannon Rowbury was able to just sneak by her at the line for the final spot on the team (capturing third by 1 hundredth of a second!)

It was tough to watch Christin struggle so mightily late, after she did an admirable job of pushing early and trying to make the race honest. But I guess that's championship racing, and her result may be telling of why nobody in the men's race was willing to do the same. It's tough for the fans, but the athletes need to do what they feel will give themselves the best chance to make the team.

What do you think about the slow and tactical races we often see at the championship level? Do you enjoy the tension and anxiety of watching a kicker's affair waiting to develop, or do you get frustrated by watching these pedestrian races from athletes that are capable of much faster times?