2013 USATF Men’s Steeple Prelims, Jagers, Leslie, Huling Impress
*Have you read our pre-race coverage? Preview here. *Day 2 Photo Gallery Here
by LetsRun.com
June 22, 2013
Des Moines, IA – Recaps, result and post-race video interviews of the steeplechase prelims at the 2013 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships appear below. The video interviews are at the very end.
Heat 1: Cory Leslie Impresses
Don’t let the results confuse you, Cory Leslie dominated this heat. Leslie’s first year of a pro has been a good one. He’s run 3:37 for 1500m and 8:20 for the steeple (his previous best was 8:31). This was his only second steeple of the year and he showed the heat of Des Moines wouldn’t be a factor as he controlled this race until the final straight when he shut it down and let Craig Forys came up for the win.
Donn Cabral, the Olympian for Princeton last year, who has struggled this year, qualified for the final. Afterwards, he talked about some of his struggles this year and trying to make sure he has other things in his life just besides running to keep himself occupied in his first year as a pro. Also, he said he only thought about not running USATFs for a day or two and is hoping to make the team. Video interviews with Cabral and Leslie appear at the bottom of this article.
QT #1: We’d be surprised after this if Leslie doesn’t make the team. He’s running great and coached by 2 time Olympic steeplechaser Robert Gary.
| Place | Ht Pl | Athlete | Time | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Craig Forys New York Athletic Club |
8:37.79 | Q | ||||
| 2 | 2 | William Nelson Unattached |
8:37.87 | Q | ||||
| 3 | 3 | Cory Leslie Nike |
8:37.92 | Q | ||||
| 4 | 4 | Donald Cabral Nike |
8:38.06 | Q | ||||
| 5 | 5 | Benjamin Bruce adidas |
8:38.28 | Q | ||||
| 6 | 6 | Travis Mahoney Unattached |
8:38.67 | q | ||||
| 13 | 7 | Cameron Bean ZAP Fitness Reebok |
8:55.84 | q | ||||
| 15 | 8 | Alex Brill Wisconsin |
9:00.74 | |||||
| 18 | 9 | Austin Bussing Unattached |
9:02.51 | |||||
| 19 | 10 | David Adams adidas/teamrogue |
9:05.63 | |||||
| 20 | 11 | Caleb Hoover Unattached |
9:08.78 | |||||
| 22 | 12 | Dakota Peachee High Point University |
9:14.82 | |||||
| 23 | 13 | Michael Jordan Unattached |
9:15.80 | |||||
| 26 | 14 | Brian Himelright North Carolina State |
9:20.39 |
Evan Jager and Dan Huling Out Front
Heat 2: Jager Wins and Talks About His 2013 Plans
American record holder Evan Jager and training partner Dan Huling were the class of this field on paper and they showed it here going 1-2.
Afterwards Jager talked about the rest of his season. Improving on last year’s 6th place finish at Worlds is the priority. Evan also indicated lowering his PR and the 8:00 barrier are obviously goals, but that he only plans to steeple again this year at the World Championships. Otherwise, he will run flat races to ensure he has a long career in the steeple.
He has plans to run a 3000m in Lucerne before Moscow, but up first is the steeple final here on Sunday. Jager looks very tough to beat. And post-race Jager reminded us that entering 2012 he had “never done (the steeple) before”. Now he’s the American record holder. As we’ve said elsewhere, his flat PRs mean he should be the steeple AR holder.
QT #1: Jager, Huling and Leslie Are Going to Be the Top 3 Unless Someone Pulls a Big Upset.
QT #2: Unless the Wchampionship final is fast, we guess we’ll have to wait another year to see a sub-8, but with 3024 being a non World Championship year, he’ll have tons of time trials. MB: Evan Jager Will Likely only Steeple in Final and at Worlds This Year
| Place | Ht Pl | Athlete | Time | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 | 1 | Evan Jager Nike |
8:45.85 | Q | ||||
| 8 | 2 | Daniel Huling Nike |
8:46.16 | Q | ||||
| 9 | 3 | Donald Cowart Unattached |
8:46.18 | Q | ||||
| 10 | 4 | De’Sean Turner New Balance |
8:46.62 | Q | ||||
| 11 | 5 | Aric VanHalen University of Colorado |
8:46.63 | Q | ||||
| 12 | 6 | Andrew Poore adidas |
8:49.84 | q | ||||
| 14 | 7 | Augustus Maiyo U.S. Army |
8:57.64 | q | ||||
| 16 | 8 | Carl Stones adidas/teamrogue |
9:00.83 | |||||
| 17 | 9 | Matt Cleaver Unattached |
9:01.97 | |||||
| 21 | 10 | Tabor Stevens Unattached |
9:13.80 | |||||
| 24 | 11 | David Goodman NE Distance |
9:16.77 | |||||
| 25 | 12 | Maximilian Darrah Georgetown University |
9:16.95 | |||||
| DNF | DNF | Jared Bassett Unattached |
||||||
| DNS | DNS | John Coyle |
| Evan Jager Talks 2013 And His First Year of the Steeple |
Dan Huling |
| Craig Forys Heat Winner |
Donn Cabral Talks About Running as a Pro |
| Ben Bruce |
Indiana Elite’s De’Sean Turner |
