2016 ServiceNow West Chester MileAug 9, 2016 by Dennis Young
Preview: ServiceNow West Chester Mile
Preview: ServiceNow West Chester Mile
WATCH THE 2016 SERVICE NOW WEST CHESTER MILE LIVE ON THURSDAY, AUGUST 11th!This year's West Chester Mile will feature four of the top nine finishers from th
WATCH THE 2016 SERVICE NOW WEST CHESTER MILE LIVE ON THURSDAY, AUGUST 11th!
This year's West Chester Mile will feature four of the top nine finishers from the men's U.S. Olympic Trials 1500m, and the women's race will include the No. 3 miler in the world in 2016 and two Americans who qualified for the world championships in the last three years.
Both races will take place on Thursday, August 11, the night before Olympic track and field competition begins in Rio. Serious prize money is on the line--in each championship race, the winner nets $2500; second, $2000; third, $1500; fourth, $1000; and fifth, $750.
We break down the full fields below.
Women's race, 8:00 PM Eastern
The field, by strongest mile/1500 PR, weaker PR in parentheses:
4:04.17, 2015 Lauren Johnson (4:25.04, 2016)
4:05.89, 2015 Nicole Tully (4:29.78, 2016)
4:06.90, 2015 Rachel Schneider (4:28.50, 2016)
4:08.13, 2016 Ashley Higginson (4:32.32, 2015)
4:27, 2016 (road) Emily Lipari (4:12.17, 2013)
4:09.41, 2016 Stephanie Schappert (4:30.07, 2016)
4:13.47, 2015 Lauren Wallace (4:38.39, 2014)
4:13.77, 2016 Christy Cazzola (4:36.99, 2016)
Bridgitte Mania (Pace)
Seven of the eight women in this race improved their PRs in the mile or 1500m in 2016, and four of them set lifetime 1500m/mile bests. This field is ready to run fast, and if the forecast of 81 degrees with 79 percent humidity chills, we could see Johnson's world No. 3 4:25 get bested.
Johnson is clearly the favorite. She was the only woman in the field to make the 1500m final at the Olympic Trials, where she finished eighth, though NJ*NY teammates Higginson and Tully also made their respective finals in the steeplechase and 5K in Eugene. At Sir Walter Miler last weekend, Johnson also handily beat the next two fastest women in the field: Tully and Schneider.
Only potential Olympic medalists Faith Kipyegon and Laura Muir have gone faster than Johnson in the outdoor mile in 2016. She'll be difficult to beat, but if someone does pull off an upset, it'll likely be Tully (the 2015 U.S. 5K champ), Higginson (a 2013 Worlds qualifier in the steeplechase), or Schneider.
One of the best subplots in the race is the matchup between sisters Nicole Tully and Stephanie Schappert. According to the head-to-head tools on Tilastopaja and MileSplit, they've never raced each other. That seems unlikely, but not implausible--Tully was born in October 1986, and Schappert was born in April 1993. If that is the case, the winner should refuse to ever race the loser again after Thursday night.
Men's race, 8:15 PM Eastern
The field by stongest mile/1500m PR, weaker PR in parentheses:
3:30.98, 2014 Leo Manzano (3:50.64, 2010)
3:34.54, 2015 Kyle Merber (3:54.57, 2016)
3:35.54, 2013 Jack Bolas (3:54, 2013, road)
3:36.04, 2016 Johnny Gregorek (3:55.27, 2016)
3:36.98, 2015 Ford Palmer (3:56.58, 2016)
3:37.08, 2016 Graham Crawford (3:56.05, 2016)
3:37.56, 2015 Daniel Winn (3:56.73, 2016)
3:38.20, 2016 Brandon Hudgins (3:59.67, 2016)
3:38.35, 2013 Mac Fleet (3:56.77, 2014)
3:39.05, 2015 Kirubel Erassa (3:58.24, 2013)
3:40.43, 2014 Reed Connor (4:01.02, 2015)
3:58.61, 2014 Travis Mahoney (3:42.67, 2016)
Declan Murray (Pace)
Seven of the 12 men in this field improved their PRs in the mile or 1500m in 2016. One of the five who hasn't, Leo Manzano, was the top finisher among these West Chester entrants at the Trials, where he was fourth. Manzano is also, uh, the only American Olympic medalist in the 1500m in the last 40 years, and one of the four best American miler/1500m runners of the last 20 years.
Two more of the five entrants who haven't are Jack Bolas and Mac Fleet. Bolas won this event last year in 3:58.63, and Fleet is the 2013 and 2014 NCAA champ. In other words: the top 10 guys in the field are either in the best form of their life, the defending champ of the event, a two-time NCAA champ, or a generationally great athlete.
The men who have PR'd this year are led by Johnny Gregorek, Daniel Winn, and Kyle Merber, who finished in that exact order at the Trials. The first time they went to Eugene this summer, Gregorek was sixth, Winn eighth, and Merber ninth, but the pecking order has changed a bit since then. Merber beat Gregorek at the TrackTown Summer Series, and at Sir Walter Miler, he beat Gregorek, Crawford, Palmer, Bolas, and Hudgins for a win, PB, and fastest time ever on North Carolina soil.
It'll be tough sledding for Merber to break his second state record in two weeks--the Pennsylvania soil mile record is 3:52.26. But his hot form lately makes him a co-favorite with Manzano.
These titans of the sport will have to overcome the ghost of the 4:41 1600m I singed this track with in 2007.
This year's West Chester Mile will feature four of the top nine finishers from the men's U.S. Olympic Trials 1500m, and the women's race will include the No. 3 miler in the world in 2016 and two Americans who qualified for the world championships in the last three years.
Both races will take place on Thursday, August 11, the night before Olympic track and field competition begins in Rio. Serious prize money is on the line--in each championship race, the winner nets $2500; second, $2000; third, $1500; fourth, $1000; and fifth, $750.
We break down the full fields below.
Women's race, 8:00 PM Eastern
Watch live on FloTrack​
The field, by strongest mile/1500 PR, weaker PR in parentheses:4:04.17, 2015 Lauren Johnson (4:25.04, 2016)
4:05.89, 2015 Nicole Tully (4:29.78, 2016)
4:06.90, 2015 Rachel Schneider (4:28.50, 2016)
4:08.13, 2016 Ashley Higginson (4:32.32, 2015)
4:27, 2016 (road) Emily Lipari (4:12.17, 2013)
4:09.41, 2016 Stephanie Schappert (4:30.07, 2016)
4:13.47, 2015 Lauren Wallace (4:38.39, 2014)
4:13.77, 2016 Christy Cazzola (4:36.99, 2016)
Bridgitte Mania (Pace)
Seven of the eight women in this race improved their PRs in the mile or 1500m in 2016, and four of them set lifetime 1500m/mile bests. This field is ready to run fast, and if the forecast of 81 degrees with 79 percent humidity chills, we could see Johnson's world No. 3 4:25 get bested.
Johnson is clearly the favorite. She was the only woman in the field to make the 1500m final at the Olympic Trials, where she finished eighth, though NJ*NY teammates Higginson and Tully also made their respective finals in the steeplechase and 5K in Eugene. At Sir Walter Miler last weekend, Johnson also handily beat the next two fastest women in the field: Tully and Schneider.
Only potential Olympic medalists Faith Kipyegon and Laura Muir have gone faster than Johnson in the outdoor mile in 2016. She'll be difficult to beat, but if someone does pull off an upset, it'll likely be Tully (the 2015 U.S. 5K champ), Higginson (a 2013 Worlds qualifier in the steeplechase), or Schneider.
One of the best subplots in the race is the matchup between sisters Nicole Tully and Stephanie Schappert. According to the head-to-head tools on Tilastopaja and MileSplit, they've never raced each other. That seems unlikely, but not implausible--Tully was born in October 1986, and Schappert was born in April 1993. If that is the case, the winner should refuse to ever race the loser again after Thursday night.
Men's race, 8:15 PM Eastern
Watch live on FloTrack
The field by stongest mile/1500m PR, weaker PR in parentheses:
3:30.98, 2014 Leo Manzano (3:50.64, 2010)
3:34.54, 2015 Kyle Merber (3:54.57, 2016)
3:35.54, 2013 Jack Bolas (3:54, 2013, road)
3:36.04, 2016 Johnny Gregorek (3:55.27, 2016)
3:36.98, 2015 Ford Palmer (3:56.58, 2016)
3:37.08, 2016 Graham Crawford (3:56.05, 2016)
3:37.56, 2015 Daniel Winn (3:56.73, 2016)
3:38.20, 2016 Brandon Hudgins (3:59.67, 2016)
3:38.35, 2013 Mac Fleet (3:56.77, 2014)
3:39.05, 2015 Kirubel Erassa (3:58.24, 2013)
3:40.43, 2014 Reed Connor (4:01.02, 2015)
3:58.61, 2014 Travis Mahoney (3:42.67, 2016)
Declan Murray (Pace)
Seven of the 12 men in this field improved their PRs in the mile or 1500m in 2016. One of the five who hasn't, Leo Manzano, was the top finisher among these West Chester entrants at the Trials, where he was fourth. Manzano is also, uh, the only American Olympic medalist in the 1500m in the last 40 years, and one of the four best American miler/1500m runners of the last 20 years.
Two more of the five entrants who haven't are Jack Bolas and Mac Fleet. Bolas won this event last year in 3:58.63, and Fleet is the 2013 and 2014 NCAA champ. In other words: the top 10 guys in the field are either in the best form of their life, the defending champ of the event, a two-time NCAA champ, or a generationally great athlete.
The men who have PR'd this year are led by Johnny Gregorek, Daniel Winn, and Kyle Merber, who finished in that exact order at the Trials. The first time they went to Eugene this summer, Gregorek was sixth, Winn eighth, and Merber ninth, but the pecking order has changed a bit since then. Merber beat Gregorek at the TrackTown Summer Series, and at Sir Walter Miler, he beat Gregorek, Crawford, Palmer, Bolas, and Hudgins for a win, PB, and fastest time ever on North Carolina soil.
It'll be tough sledding for Merber to break his second state record in two weeks--the Pennsylvania soil mile record is 3:52.26. But his hot form lately makes him a co-favorite with Manzano.
These titans of the sport will have to overcome the ghost of the 4:41 1600m I singed this track with in 2007.