It is a matter of what you consider picking it up. They were running like 62s and then he ran the last lap in like 59. That is picking it up. But 59s isn't exactly a big kick for a guy running 7:44 and you don't go I wonder how much faster he would have been with even pacing like you would do if he say closed in 55s.
I am pretty confidant that he won the race in 7:45 we we all be happy with how he has progressed from the time trials earlier in the summer and be talking about how is getting back in shape to run a 13:10 or so. The fact that someone else showed up who could run the last lap 2s faster doesn't really change that. I have no clue where either of them are in their training cycles but this is a solid result for both of them.
It will be fun to see how that 5k turns out.