Women’s 800: Chanelle Price Hangs On; Colorful Maggie Vessey Takes Second; Mary Cain Fizzles

by LetsRun.com
May 30, 2014

EUGENE, Ore. — The Chanelle Price show continued (but barely) tonight at the 2014 Pre Classic as the Mary Cain show failed to get off the ground.

Price was the only one to go with the rabbit early in this one as she built a big lead on the chase pack (possibly close to three seconds) as she went through 400 in 57 low and 600 in 1:28.79. The race looked like a blowout entering the final 100 but then Price started to run out of gas. 10 meters from the finish line, it wasn’t clear if she’d even make it to the finish.

Finish and win she did in 2:00.38 to just hold off a fast-closing Maggie Vessey (2:00.48).

What about prep sensation Mary Cain? Cain, who became the first US high schooler to break 2:00.00 in this meet last year when she ran 1:59.51, never was a factor in this one as she was near the back throughout and stayed there until the finish. She crossed the line third to last in 2:02.31.

After the race, Cain was in tears and initially skipped the mixed zone. Much later, before the men’s 10k, she came through the interview area and was the normal bubbly, media-friendly Mary Cain. Cain told dyestat.com that she and Salazar weren’t expecting a whole lot in this race as they are building for August but that she was a little disappointed as she had run a 2:03 on Monday in practice. She told flotrack she had been on a treadmill most of the winter and talked about APs and prom.

Quick Thought #1: Price really cratered but she deserved to win this one as she was the only one to go for it.

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She said afterwards that her coach told her to relax and think of it as a training run, but with 40 meters to go she knew the pack was coming for her. Price didn’t realize exactly how close Vessey and third-placer Melissa Bishop of Canada were, but she could hear the crowd roaring as she approached the finish line.

Quick Thought #2: Vessey wasn’t nearly as good as she was in her last race (1:59.96) but down the road she’ll be the one we remember from this race.

A women’s 800 with a winning time over 2:00 isn’t all that memorable except when an unsponsored athlete shows up in an outfit like this:

Maggie vessey

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Quick Thought #3: Results for this heat as well as heat 1, which included some very good runners :

Section 2 (fast section)

1
USA
2:00.38
2
USA
2:00.48
3
CAN
2:00.52
SB
4
USA
2:00.65
SB
5
POL
2:00.90
6
USA
2:01.15
7
GBR
2:01.50
SB
8
USA
2:02.31
9
CAN
2:03.28
10
USA
2:03.40
USA
DNF
Intermediate times: 400m LEINERT, Shannon (USA) 56.97; 600m PRICE, Chanelle (USA) 1:28.79
1
FRA
2:01.50
SB
2
GBR
2:02.28
3
CAN
2:02.64
4
CAN
2:02.74
5
USA
2:03.37
6
CAN
2:04.55
7
USA
2:06.00
PB
8
USA
2:06.77
9
AUS
2:07.34
10
CHN
2:10.47
USA
DNF
Intermediate times: 400m MECKE, Dana (USA) 58.75; 600m JUDD, Jessica (GBR) 1:29.79

Men’s 800

Kenyan champ Job Kinyor, who was part of the victorious Kenyan 4×800 team at the World Relays last week, won the men’s 800 in 1:44.70. Former Oregon Duck Elijah Greer was second in a season’s best 1:45.30. Erik Sowinski, who ran 1:44 at Mt. SAC last month but didn’t run at the World Relays last weekend, was third in 1:45.64. Sowinski admitted that he was a little disappointed that he missed out on the World Relays, but he had committed to a meet in Beijing a long time ago. Interviews with all three athletes below.

Off camera, Greer said he felt a little flat. On camera, he told us he was disappointed that he didn’t put himself in striking distance for the win and that he needs to be in it to win it in the future.

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