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2008 LetsRun.com US Women's 800, 1,500 Rankings As Of June 19, 2008
June 19, 2008
LetsRun.com

We continue with our LetsRun.com Women's 800 & 1,500 Rankings (last week's rankings here).

The ranking are based on current form and are supposed to reflect how we think they'd end up if you lined them up and had them race right  now..

Our stats came from a combination of TrackandFieldNews.com US leaders lists, USATF.org's leaders, our own adjustments, and incredible individual stats at tilastopaja.org.

Email us at letsrun@letsrun.com with any comments you have.. If anyone has some photos they'd like us to use, please email us.

Women's 1500 - Anna Willard Messes Up the Rankings
The women's 1,500 is extremely deep in this Olympic year. The entire top 10 in our rankings are all capable of hitting the Olympic A standard of 4:07.00. The crazy thing is the 1,500 has a number of studs who seemingly are on the IR (injured reserve) list this year. If they were all healthy, it would be quite a log jam just to make the final at USA. Those on the IR include Tiffany McWilliams and Shayne Culpepper and Nicole Teter.

Changes this week:Anna Willard, the steeplechase star blasted a 4:06.26, 6 second pr to win the American Miler Series over milers Lindsey Gallo and Jenelle Deatherage. All 3 move up in the rankings because of the run.

  1 Willard, Anna                NIKE                   4:06.26  
  2 Gallo, Lindsey               Reebok                 4:07.26  
3 Deatherage, Jenelle          Reebok                 4:07.87  

Previous ranking appears in (). Big movers have arrows.

USA Women's 1,500 Meter Stats
Olympic A Standard 4:07:00

(Rowbury, Wurth-Thomas, Donohue, Fleshman, Clement, Flanagan, Culpepper (out), all have the standard)

2008 Top 10 US Times
Changes this week in bold
4:01.61 Shannon Rowbury (Nike)
4:04.88 Christin Wurth-Thomas (Nike)
4:06.26 Anna Willard 6/14

4:07.26 Lindsey Gallo 6/14
4:07.50 Sarah Bowman Tennessee 6/14

4:07.62 Amy Mortimer
4:07.65 Erin Donohue
4:07.87 Jenelle Deatherage
4:08.43 Lindsey Gallo (Reebok)
4:08.54 Brie Felnagle (North Carolina)
4:09.43 Lauren Fleshman
4:11.87 Treniere Clement
4:12.11 Morgan Uceny (Reebok)
4:12.33 Anna Willard (Nike)
4:13.23 Frances Koons (Villanova)
Note: Our stats came from a combination of TrackandFieldNews.com US leaders lists, our own adjustments, and incredible individual stats at
tilastopaja

2007 USATF Finals
1 Treniere Clement Nike 4:07.04
2 Christin Wurth Nike 4:07.86
3 Erin Donohue Nike 4:08.22
4 Tiffany McWilliams adidas 4:08.86
5 Sara Hall Asics 4:08.99
6 Lindsey Gallo Reebok 4:11.00
7 Amy Mortimer Reebok 4:11.97
8 Jenelle Deatherage Reebok 4:12.49
9 Natalie Pichetti Georgia 4:16.59
10 Anne Shadle Reebok 4:17.83
11 Shayne Culpepper Nike 4:22.35
12 Mary Jayne Harrelson Nike 4:26.74

2007 Top 15 Seasonal Bests(All under 4:10.00)
4:05.55 Erin Donohue (Nike)
4:05.62 Lauren Fleshman (Nike)
4:05.68 Treniere Clement (Nike)
4:05.86 Shalane Flanagan (Nike)
4:05.98 Shayne Culpepper (Nike)
4:07.23 Amy Mortimer (Reebok)

4:07.86 Christin Wurth-Thomas (Nike)
4:08.73 Nicole Teter (Oregon Track Club)
4:08.86 Tiffany McWilliams (adidas)
4:08.89 Alice Schmidt (adidas) adidas
4:08.99 Sara Hall (Asics)
4:09.52 Jen Rhines (adidas)
4:09.60 Lindsey Gallo (Reebok)
4:09:22 Lauren Fleshman (Nike)
4:09.93 Brie Felnagle (North Carolina)

#1 (1) Shannon Rowbury - DOB: 9/19/1984 PB: 4:01.61 (2008) 2008 Best: 4:01.61 2007 Best: 4:34.94 mile
Coming into the year Rowbury might not have been in anyone's top 10. Now she is everyone's #1. The only way she loses to another American is if she is tripped.  How can we be so confident?  Rowbury ran a 4:01.61 at the adidas Track Classic in LA in May.  Her first time under the Olympic A standard of 4:07.00.  4:01 is REALLY GOOD for an American. To put it in perspective, one needs to realize that only four Americans have ever run faster and two of them are convicted drug cheats(Regina Jacobs and Mary Slaney). The last time that a non-drug cheat ran faster than 4:01.61 was September 8th, 2002 when Suzy Favor Hamilton ran 3:59.43.

Rowbury is certainly on fire in 2008 as her PR has come down almost 11 seconds (her PR coming into the year was 4:12.31 from 2006). She's also come down more almost four seconds in the 800 (2:01.03 versus 2:04.96).

#2 (2) Christin Wurth Thomas - DOB: 7/11/1980 PB: 4:04.88 (2008), 2008 Best: 4:04.88 2007 Best: 4:07.86
The runner-up at last year's nationals has been running well in 2008. Indoors, she was the US champ at 1,500 before running an indoor pr of 4:10.56 in the rounds of worlds where she didn't advance. Outdoors, she PR'd at adidas with a 4:04.94. 4:04 is way ahead of what most of her other American rivals have run. So while she is way, way behind Rowbury, she's got to feel good about going to the Olympics. At Prefontaine, she PRd in 4:04.88 and finished 3rd - nearly 3 seconds ahead of Donohue.

#3 (3) Shalane Flanagan - DOB: 7/8/1981 PB: 4:05.86, 2008 Best: -- Last Race: -- (30:34 10k) 2007 Best: 4:05.86
Remember this isn't a ranking of the top 10 best season's in the 1,500 in the US. This is a ranking of who would beat who if they raced - right now. Don't let the fact that Flanagan smashed the American record in the 10k earlier in the year make you think that she wouldn't run a good 1,500.

She's got good speed. Remember, her indoor 3k American record of 8:33.25 comes out to two 4:16 1,500s back to back. If she can run two Olympic Trials qualifiers back to back, she can certainly run a single fast 1,500 if she needed to.

Last year, she ran 4:05.86 - good for 4th fastest in the USA. But the key thing to remember is that her 4:05.86 came early in the year - at the Prefontaine Classic. In that race, she crushed many of the top 1,500 rivals - defeating the US Champ Clement by almost a full second. Look below to see who she beat below.

3

Shalane Flanagan

USA 4:05.86
4 Treniere Clement USA 4:06.84
6 Christin Wurth-Thomas USA 4:08.18
7 Amy Mortimer USA 4:09.29
8 Kara Goucher USA 4:10.29
9 Lauren Fleshman USA 4:10.87

Flanagan is world class in the 10k. She's certainly national class in the 1,500. We'll take her talent. We could very easily see someone ranking her #3 but no lower than that.

#4)  (NR) Anna Willard - (1) DOB: 3/31/1984 PB: 4:06.26 (2007), 2008 Best: 4:06.26 Last Race: 4:06.26, 2007 Best: 4:12.34
Nothing like a 6 second pr in the 1500. Truly incredible. She's definitely ready for the steeple at the Trials.

#5 (4) Erin Donohue - DOB: 5/8/1983 PB: 4:05.55 (2007), 2008 Best: 4:07.65, 2007 Best: 4:05.55
Donohue had a monster year in 2007 when brought her PR down from 4:14.57 to 4:05.55 and finished 3rd a the US champs to earn a spot on the world championship team. She also PRd in the 800 (2:01.12). In 2008, Donohue won the 800 at the adidas meet in LA in 2:02.04 and then ran 4:07.65 in her 1,500 opener at Prefontaine.  Her two training partners (Flanagan and Rowbury) are basically unbeatable in the US so she's probably got a lot of confidence because of that.

#6 (7) Lindsey Gallo - DOB: 11/29/1981 PB: 4:05.75 (2005), 2008 Best: 4:07.26 2007 Best: 4:09.60
She just missed the Olympic "A" standard at the American Miler Series Meet but is in good form heading into the Trials.

#7 (5) Lauren Fleshman - DOB: 9/26/1981 PB: 4:05.62 (2007), 2008 Best: 4:09.43 2007 Best: 4:05.62

In our first rankings, we said it was hard to rank Fleshman as she's more of a 5k runner, but our ranking her #5 - ahead of Mortimer and behind Donohue proved to dead on as she finished 5th at Prefontaine - ahead of Fleshman and behind Mortimer.

All of the 5k training has paid off last year with huge PRs in the 1,500 for Fleshman, proving once again STRENGTH = SPEED. In the 1,500 in 2007, Fleshman ended up #2 on the US list with her PR of 4:05.62. A fantastic year for her at the shorter distance because prior to the year her PR was 4:11.27. Even more impressive, her pr at the end of 2005 was 4:13.63.

Indoors, she ran one mile at the Boston Reebok meet and she finished 2nd in 4:33.46 - defeating 5 women who finished in the top 10 of the 1,500 at the 2007 USATF outdoor meet in the process (McWilliams, Hall, Gallo, Mortimer and Shadle).

#8 (7)Amy Mortimer - DOB: 8/16/1981 PB: 4:06:55 (2006), 2008 Best: 4:07.62  2007 Best: 4:07.23
The former Kansas State star is always a player in the women's 1,500 in the US. This year Mortimer seems to be doing well yet again as she ran 4:07 two weeks in a row but hasn't gotten the Olympic A standard of 4:07.00 that she so desperately wants. She ran a third straight 1,500 last week at Pre in search of the A stnadard but ended up 6th in 4:09. She'll have to rest up and hope the A standard comes at the Trials.  

4 years ago, Mortimer ran a PR of 4:11 to finish 9th in the Trials. If she PRs this year, she might just end up on the Olympic Team. She finished 3rd at the 2005 USA but lacked the A standard.

#9 (11) Jenelle Deatherage - DOB: 9/25/1977 PB: 4:07:87 (2004), 2008 Best: 4:07.87 Last Race: 4:07.87 2007 Best: 4:10.57 She Put Her 4:18 at Reebok behind her with her 4:07.87 at the American milers meet. She ran great indoors as well.

#10 (NR) Sarah Bowman DOB: 10/15/1986  2008 Best: 4:07.50 2007 Best: 4:17:59 Last Race: 4:07.50
Bowman was only 2nd at the regional but she had a breakthrough race at NCAAs to get 3rd. She hasn't shown the consistency as the women above her.

Dropping Out: Not a good sign with the defending NCAA and 3 time USATF champ are out of the top 10.
OUT (8) Brie Felnagle - DOB: 12/09/1986 PB: 4:08.54, 2008 Best: 4:08.54 Last Race: 4:08.54 2007 Best: 4:09.93
She bombed at the NCAA regionals while being sick. She looked fine in the prelims at NCAAs but the fast pace for the final took its toll on her. She doesn't seem to be 100% her old self yet.

OUT (9) Treniere Clement - DOB: 10/27/1981 PB: 4:03.32 (2006), 2008 Best: 4:11.87 2007 Best: 4:05.68
How can we rank the reigning 3-time US champ so low? Well  her early season results haven't done anything to impress us.  Last year, she ran an 800 on May 12th in 2:01.50. This year she ran 2:05.25 on May 3rd in a race that was won in 2:02.40. Then she only managed at 2:03.91 at Reebok in the 800. At Prefontaine, she was dead last in the 1500 in 4:11.87. Something's not right.

Women's 800
The top 3 in the women's 800 (
Hazel Clark-Riley, Alysia Johnson and Alice Schmidt) seem to have a gap on their pursuers but there are some interesting subplots that could change things as Nicole Teter's form seems to be returning to form and Chanelle Price is a high school phneom.Since we last ranked them, there has been a ton of movement in the top seasonal times.

The Olympic qualifying standard is 2:00.00.

Changes this week: The NCAA meet was not up to snuff this year so no one from that meet enters our top 10. The big news was defending NCAA and USATF champ Alysia Johnson pulled out of the semi with a foot injury. So we're dropping her one spot in our rankings. Everything else in the same.

We missed a mark from last week. UC Riverside's Brenda Martinez ran a  5 second pr at the Jim Bush Invite to run 2:02.34. She ran that the weekend between Regionals anc NCAAs where she ran the 1500 and finished 14th.

Previous ranking appears in ().
 Big movers have arrows.

USA Women's 800 Meter Stats
Olympic A Standard 2:00:00
(Clark-Riley, Johnson, Schmidt, and Teter and Katie Waits have the standard for Beijing)

2008 Top US Times
Changes this week in bold
1:59.82 Hazel Clark-Riley 05/17
2:00.01 Alice Schmidt 6/8
2:00.57 Alysia Johnson 05/17
2:01.03 Shannon Rowbury 6/8
2:01:06 Nicole Teter 6/8
2:01.61 Channelle Price 6/8
2:02.04 Erin Donohue 05/18
2:02.17 Morgan Uceny 05/17
2:02.34 Brenda Martinez 6/7
2:02.72 Anna Willard 05/17
2:02.72 Maggie Vessey 6/15

2:02.79 Nicole Cook 5/31
2:02.94 Kameisha Bennett-Martin 05/18
2:02.97 Katie Waits 6/14
2:03.17i Tiffany McWilliams 02/02*
2:03.22 LaTavia Thomas 04/19
2:03.27 Nikeya Green 05/17

Finals
1 Alysia Johnson California 1:59.47
2 Hazel Clark Nike 1:59.60
3 Alice Schmidt adidas 1:59.63
4 Morgan Uceny Cornell 2:01.75
5 Lauren Austin unattached 2:02.09
6 Geena Gall Michigan 2:02.31
7 Chanelle Price United Stars 2:02.38
8 Nikeya Green Reebok 2:04.46

#1 (1) Alice Schmidt - DOB: 10/3/1981 PB: 1:58.75 (2007), 2008 Best: NA 2007 Best: 1:58.75
Schmidt has yet to run the 800 this year but that must be a deliberate attempt to peak later in the year. Last year she ran a 1:58.75 pr at Pre and then only broke 2 minutes twice the rest of the year. Nonetheless, she's one of the big 3 in US 800m running and when she steps on the track at 800 (next week at Pre?) we think she'll be ready.

#2 (3) Hazel Clark-Riley - DOB: 10/3/1977 PB: 1:57.99 (2005), 2008 Best: 1:59.82 Last Race: 1:59.82 2007 Best: 1:59.07
Her family has dominated the US 800 ranks for quite a while and doesn't appear to be stopping any time soon. Hazel is a 3 time US champ and a 2 time Olympian. Her 1:59.82 win the last time out and undefeated season show she'll be a force at the Trials in a month. Her experience and her US leader put her rightfully atop the US ranks - for now - as Johnson appears to be the future of this event in the US.

#3 (2) Alysia Johnson - DOB: 4/26/1986 PB: 1:59.29 USAs (2007), 2008 Best: 2:00:57, Last Race: 2:00:57 2007 Best: 1:59.29
The NCAA and USATF champ last year appeared to not be as sharp in 2008, but maybe she was delaying her peak a little later in the season as now she is rounding into fine form at the right time. She got beat at NCAA indoors, then hadn't broken 2:05 outdoors, until she threw down a 2:00.57 at Pac 10s. The battle at USAs should be close between the top 3, but right now Johnson has the nod over Schmidt because she is race sharper.

#4 (4) Shannon Rowbury - DOB: 9/19/1984 PB: 2:01:03  2008 Best: 2:01:03 Last Race: 2:01.03 2007 Best: NA
Rowbury has been the breakout sensation in the US ranks at 1500 with her 4:01 this year. In her first 800 she ran 2:02.76. Then she ran 2:01.03 at Pre, meaning her PR has come down by almost 4 seconds this year (2:04.96 previous PB).

#5 (5) Nicole Teter - DOB: 11/8/1973 PB: 1:57.97 (2002), 2008 Best: 2:01.07 2007 Best: 1:59.91
Teter set the running world on fire in 2002 running a 1:58.71 US record indoors, a 1:57.97 pr outdoors, and winning the Paris Golden League 1500. She broke 2 minutes last year outdoors, ran an impressive 2:01.73 indoors this year, and won the US indoors this year. Outdoors, she got things going slowly and thus we were worried she was injured. A 2:04.46 outdoor opener for a win on May 29th didn't tell us much but her 2:01.07 at Pre shows us she's rounding into form at the right time. Give her a few weeks and she'll be ranked ahead of Rowbury.

#6 (6) Chanelle Price - DOB: 8/22/1990 PB: 2:01.61 (2008), 2008 Best: 2:01.61 2007 Best: 2:02.38
That date of birth is not a mistake ladies and gentleman. She's a high schooler. Price made the USATF finals last year as a high schooler, led the race for the first 600, and then held on for her 2:02.38 pr. She ran all alone and won the PS state meet in 2:02.90. At Prefontatine Classic, she had the lead through 600 but had to settle with a 2:01.61 pb - short of the A standard.

#7 (7) Erin Donohue - DOB: 5/8/1983 - PB: 2:01.12(2008) 2008 Best: 2:02.04 2007 Best: 2:01.12
The 1500 is Donohue's top event but she did win the 800 at the adidas earlier this year in 2:02.04 and then beat Uceny at Reebok by running 2:02.04 at Reebok (yes the exact same time) and ran 2:01 last year.

#8 (8) Morgan Uceny - DOB: 3/10/1985 PB: 2:01.75 (2007) 2008 Best: 2:02.17 2007 Best: 2:02.17
The Cornell grad prd when it counted last year (2:01.75) to get 4th at USATFs. She ran 2:02.17 a couple of weeks ago which is faster than she was running this time last year. At Reebok, she was 4th in 2:02.43 and beat Cook, Greene and Clement. She was forced to drop out of the American Miler Series on Saturday. Hopefully the injury isn't too bad.

#9 (9) Nicole Cook - DOB: 2/13/1983 PB: 2:00.75i (2005) 2008 Best: 2:02.79 2007 Best: 2:02.68
Cook is an anomaly as she always seems to do her best running indoors. Her outdoor PR is 2:02.33 but her indoor PR is 2:00.75. This year she was 2nd in the US indoor meet in 2:02. At Reebok, she was 5th - just behind Uceny.

#10 Katie Waits (Erdman) (10) - DOB: 8/24/1983 PB: 1:59.35 (2007) 2008 Best: 2:02.97 2007 Best:1:59.35 Katie Erdman had a sensational 2007 for Michigan as she broke 2:00 and was the NCAA runner-up for Michigan. Had she not skipped USA instead to get married, she very well might have made the world team.  She's still training with McGuire of Michigan but she has to commute to workouts as she no longer lives in Ann Arbor and the results haven't been nearly as good this year. For most to make the Olympics, running has to be their 100% #1 focus. Commuting to workouts is less than ideal and the results have showed. She did run 2:03.09 at Reebok which was a big improvement on her 2:05 previous sb and then followed that up with a 2:02.97 win in the final American Milers Club race.

One to watch: Maggie Vessey
We totally left her out (she probbably wouldn't make the top 10) as we missed her 2:02.72 win in Oregon this past weekend but a reader sent us her 2008 stats. The former Cal Poly star was 2nd at NCAAs in 2005.

2008 Cal Poly Invite 2:09.18 (win)
2008 Stanford Invite 2:06.08 (win)
2008 Mt. Sac Oly Dev. 2:05.50 (win)
2008 Brutus Hamilton 2:03.81 (win)
2008 Cardinal Invite 2:03.56 (win))

                        ***
2005 NCAA Finals 2:03.10 (2nd)

 

We're sure we made a few errors as this is our first attempt at this.  Comments, suggestions? Email us at letsrun@letsrun.com

We rushed to put this up and didn't include photos. If anyone has some photos they'd like us to use, please email us.

Note: Our stats came from a combination of TrackandFieldNews.com US leaders lists, our own adjustments, and incredible individual stats at tilastopaja

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