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2009 Prefontaine Classic Recap NBC Video of Men's 400 Hurdles Finals 1 Bershawn Jackson USA 48.38 2 Isa Phillips Jamaica 48.55 3 Kerron Clement USA 48.73 4 Angelo Taylor USA 48.79 5 Michael Tinsley USA 48.80 6 Markino Buckley Jamaica 50.80 7 Kenneth Ferguson USA Men's Steeplechase 2008 Olympian Josh McAdams got the win in the "other" race at Pre - the battle to be the top American - as he was third in 8:26.55. NBC Video of Men's Steeple Finals 1 Paul Koech Kenya 8:13.44 2 Roba Gary Ethiopia 8:21.22 3 Josh McAdams USA 8:26.55 4 Rob Watson USA 8:27.09 5 Ben Bruce USA 8:33.11 6 Kyle Alcorn USA 8:34.02 7 Billy Nelson USA 8:35.90 8 Dan Huling USA 8:36.47 9 Brian Olinger USA 8:37.23 10 Tom Brooks USA 8:43.25 11 Steve Slattery USA 8:45.13 -- Luke Watson USA DNF Not sure why the Prefontaine people changed the schedule to put this event on television. The B Heat of the 100 was on the tube as well. Ridiculous. B Heat Of 100 Finals 1 Rae Edwards USA 10.10 0.1 2 Leroy Dixon USA 10.18 0.1 10.171 3 Ivory Williams USA 10.18 0.1 10.177 4 Ryan Bailey USA 10.18 0.1 10.179 5 Jaysuma Ndura Norway 10.20 0.1 6 Shawn Crawford USA 10.21 0.1 7 Rodney Martin USA 10.43 0.1 Women's 100 Hurldes NBC Video of Women's Hurdles 1 Michelle Perry USA 12.74 "0.164"| Men's 3,000 Eliud Kipchoge was doing all the work with Bernard Lagat and Saif Shaheen sitting right behind him. We thought, "Kipchoge is a sitting duck. Lagat has this in the bag." In the end, that was the case, but not before Shaheen made things interesting before taking the lead with 200 to go. Lagat responded however and hammered home over the final 80 to get the win. Final note: The NBC announcers hyped this race as a quest for a sub-7:30 race. When we saw that the rabbits were Julius Achon and Steve Sherer, we thought, "No chance those guys get the job done." Nothing against them, but to rabbit a sub-7:30 race, you need a stud to take it 2k in 5:02 at the slowest. They weren't close to doing that. Look at Lagat's splits and you'll see what we are talking about. 30.44(30.44) 1:33.08(1:02.64) 2:32.46(59.39) 3:32.76(1:00.30) 4:34.85(1:02.09), 5:37.31(1:02.47) 6:39.77(1:02.47) 7:35.92(56.15) NBC Video of Men's 3000 1 Bernard Lagat USA 7:35.92 2 Saif Shaheen Qatar 7:36.87 3 Chris Solinsky USA 7:37.05 4 Matt Tegenkamp USA 7:37.32 5 Alistair Craigg Ireland 7:37.84 6 Eliud Kipchoge Kenya 7:38.24 7 Moses Masai Kenya 7:44.75 8 Leonard Komon Kenya 7:45.53 9 Scott Bauhs USA 7:54.58 10 Dejen Gebremeskel Ethiopia 7:58.69 11 Brent Vaughn USA 8:09.82 -- Julius Achon USA DNF -- Steve Sherer USA DNF Women's 400 2 Shericka Williams Jamaica 50.72 3 Yuliya Guschina Russia 51.17 4 Amantle Montsho Botswana 51.31 5 Novlene Williams-Mills Jamaica 51.32 6 Anastasia Kapachinskaia Russia 51.67 7 Melaine Walker Jamaica 52.01 8 Natasha Hastings USA 52.33 Men's 800 Symmonds got the lead earlier than normal but he didn't give it up and got a much-deserved victory as he closed in 25.77. Yego ended up 2nd. The pace went out way too slow for HSer Elijah Greer, who was hoping for the national HS record. He went to the back as he rightfully probably thought the pace would be hot. But his 400 split was just 53.45 - slower than the pace required for a 1:46.45. Khadevis Robinson tried going out in the middle of the pack instead of his trademark go-out-hard-and-see-what-happens style, but his plan backfired due to the slow first 600. No one was dying as no one went out hard. Robsinson closed in 25.99 - one of three sub-26 closes - but only finished 5th as he was just too far back. Each runner's splits are here. Finals 1 Nick Symmonds USA 1:45.86 2 Alfred Yego Kenya 1:46.21 3 Christian Smith USA 1:46.36 4 Gary Reed Canada 1:46.37 5 Khadevis Robinson USA 1:46.64 6 Yuriy Borzakovskiy Russia 1:47.05 7 Ahmad Ismail Sudan 1:47.83 8 Elijah Greer USA 1:49.15 -- Matt Scherer USA DNF -- Boaz Lalang Kenya DNF Women's 100 Finals 1 Carmelita Jeter USA 10.85 3.2 2 Kerron Stewart Jamaica 10.90 3.2 3 Muna Lee USA 11.02 3.2 4 Shelly-Ann Fraser Jamaica 11.10 3.2 5 Lauryn Williams USA 11.12 3.2 6 Marshevet Hooker USA 11.30 3.2 7 Tianna Madison USA 11.31 3.2 Men's 100 The sprinters need to realize that Berlin is a long way off and it's all about being healthy and on when it matters most. NBC Video of Men's 100 1 Michael Rodgers USA 9.94 "0.110" Women's 800 Yes, Maggie Vessey, the woman with the slowest PR of everyone in the field had won. How? We don't know. Her PR up until last week was 2:02.01. Last week in New York, she ran 2:01.49 for 4th. Given that she'd lost the first 800 of her life in her last outing, we weren't sure what Olympic champ Pamela Jelimo would do at the start. Would she be conservative? No. The race started with Jelimo going with the rabbit, former UPenn All-American Jese Carlin. If you needed to know just how inexperienced Jelimo is, all you had to do was watch her cut in after the one-turn stagger. Instead of gradually coming in, she made a beeline for lane 1 like a high school freshman. They hit 400 way ahead of the field but by about 500 Jelimo slowed incredibly. The field gobbled her up after the 600 meter mark and Jelimo had absolutely nothing in response. At this point, Vessey was still in 6th. Yes, that's right. 6th with 150 to go but she sprinted to the lead and crossed the finish line first. She was so stunned she almost forgot to put her arm up to celebrate. Normally a runner does it right at the tape or just before the line. She was so stunned that she won that she did it after the line and then let out the "Oh my God." AN AWESOME RACE FOR VESSEY.
1 Maggie Vessey USA 2:00.18 2 Kenia Sinclair Jamaica 2:01.02 3 Jemma Simpson Great Britain 2:01.10 4 Hazel Clark USA 2:01.12 5 Tatyana Andrianova Russia 2:01.16 6 Alysia Johnson USA 2:05.32 7 Pamela Jelimo Kenya 2:05.57 -- Jesse Carlin USA DNF Women's 2,000 Cheruiyot's is the fastest time ever run on US soil. Amy Yoder-Begley was the top American at 5:38.34. Each runner's splits can be found here. NBC Video of Women's 2000 1 Vivian Cheruiyot Kenya 5:31.52 2 Maryam Jamal Bahrain 5:31.88 3 Linet Masai Kenya 5:33.43 4 Sally Kipyego Kenya 5:35.20 5 Pauline Korikwiang Kenya 5:38.11 6 Amy Yoder-Begley USA 5:38.34 7 Kara Goucher USA 5:41.28 8 Jen Rhines USA 5:51.69 9 Sara Hall USA 5:54.07 10 Lauren Hagans USA 5:57.60 -- Sara Vaughn USA DNF -- Marina Muncan Serbia DNF
Anyway, the race was interesting to us as LaShawn Merritt won it as we expected and showed how he's just faster than most 400-meter runners. The guys that did well in this race besides Merritt were more of the 200 guys who hung on. Except for Merritt, the pure 400 strength guys like Olympic bronze medallist David Neville or Rennie Quow (who put up a good fight last week against Merritt at 400) struggled. It shows you that a 400 isn't just won by the fastest 200-meter runners. Merritt has looked great at 200 this year. He set a 0.01 PR at 300 today but his 400s haven't been that special yet. 2 Xavier Carter USA 31.93 3 Wallace Spearmon USA 32.14 4 Shawn Crawford USA 32.47 5 David Neville USA 32.49 6 Rennie Quow Trinidad 32.55 7 Tyler Christopher Canada 32.59 8 Darold Williamson USA 33.76
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