2020 Under Armour Sunset Tour 2

2020 Under Armour Sunset Tour 2 Preview: Ches Makes 10k Pro Debut

2020 Under Armour Sunset Tour 2 Preview: Ches Makes 10k Pro Debut

The 2020 Under Armour Sunset Tour will resume on Saturday night in California with Part II of the two part summer series.

Aug 27, 2020 by Lincoln Shryack
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The 2020 Under Armour Sunset Tour will resume on Saturday night in California with Part II of the two part summer series. Part I featured a 5,000m victory by Edward Cheserek, and he’ll look to keep the momentum going as he runs twice as many laps this weekend.

Watch the 2020 Under Armour Sunset Tour 2 Live on FloTrack on Aug. 29

Here’s what to watch in the three-event meet on Saturday night:

Men’s 10,000m (9:25 PM PT)

Edward Cheserek will run his first 10,000m in over three years and make his professional debut in the distance against an eclectic field featuring 1500m Olympian Ben Blankenship, NCAA star Conner Mantz and former NCAA champions Ben Flanagan and Clayton Young. 

Cheserek, who just won the 5,000m at the first Sunset meet last weekend in 13:21, has never truly run a “fast” 10k as his PB is 28:30 from his freshman year of college six years ago. But against this field, sub-28:00 will be the expectation as certainly many of the Americans will be targeting the 28:00 U.S. Olympic Trials standard.

Sleepers to watch in this one include Brit Sam Atkin, who finished second behind Ches last Saturday in 13:23, and former BYU All-American Connor McMillan, the fourth place finisher at USAs last summer.

Women’s 10,000m (8:45 PM PT)

Marathon fans may be familiar with Ethiopian Atsede Baysa, who won the 2016 Boston Marathon and has run 67:33 for the half. The 33-year-old hasn’t been close to that level, however, for nearly four years, so I would expect this to be a battle between former NCAA 10,000m champion Sharon Lokedi, 2012 Olympic Trials runner-up Natosha Rogers and Olivia Pratt. Lokedi just ran 15:18 last Saturday, while Pratt beat Rogers in a 10,000m last month in running 32:48. The U.S. Olympic Trials standard is 32:25.

Women’s 1500m (8:30 PM PT)

Dani Jones will look to bounce back from a disappointing 15:31 performance in the 5,000m last Saturday with a fast 1500m this week as she faces Rebecca Mehra, Kaela Edwards and Dom Scott, among others. Jones ran a 4:05.03 personal best last month en route to a 4:23 mile PB, although that could be tough to eclipse without Cory McGee and Emma Coburn in the race as she had in that one.

Mehra ran a 2:01 800m PB last weekend and could do similar damage here to her 4:08 1500m best.