Men’s 600 and 1,000s Post-Race Reaction: Favorites Roll On

by LetsRun.com
February 28, 2015

BOSTON The men’s 600 and 1000 trials went pretty much expected at the 2015 USATF Indoor Championships as nearly all of the favorites moved on to Sunday’s final.

That was pretty much to be expected in the 1k as only 4 of 13 competitors were eliminated. The men’s 600 was more eventful as 10 of 16 were eliminated, including three guys who ran in the 1:17s today, including 1:44 man Ryan Martin.

Perhaps the biggest news was how World 500 record holder Bryce Spratling ran his 600 today. Most assumed he’d hammer it out and then hang on, but he went out in third and ran it more like an 800. He made a big move on the back-stretch on the last lap to win his heat going away.

Brooks Beasts teammates Cas Loxsom (the American record holder) and Mark Wieczorek had faster times than Spratling today.

We caught up with many of the key players for interviews after the races. You can find them below the results.

Results below. For individual heat by heat results, go to flashresults.com. If you want to watch the races, USATF.tv has you covered:  600 Race Replays Here *1k Race Replays Here

Men’s 600

Place Name Affiliation Time Heat (Pl)
1 Casimir Loxsom Brooks 1:16.26 q 3 (1)
2 Mark Wieczorek Brooks 1:16.80 q 4 (1)
3 Boris Berian Big Bear TC 1:17.07 q 4 (2)
4 Brycen Spratling Unattached 1:17.17 q 1 (1)
5 Erik Sowinski Nike 1:17.33 q 2 (1)
6 Je’von Hutchison Unattached 1:17.37 q 4 (3)
7 Neil Braddy Unattached 1:17.45 3 (2)
8 Michael Courtney Unattached 1:17.77 2 (2)
9 Ryan Martin Asics 1:17.87 1 (2)
10 Dylan Skinner Brooks 1:18.65 1 (3)
11 Jacob Sealby Unattached 1:19.12 1 (4)
12 Logan Sharpe adidas Garden St 1:19.37 4 (4)
13 Oscar Kemjika CPTC New Balance 1:20.35 3 (3)
14 William Mccaskill II World Athlet 1:20.63 2 (3)
Harrison Hunter CPTC New Balance DQ 2
Nicholas Thornton Unattached DQ 3

Men’s 1k Results:

Place Name Affiliation Time Heat (Pl)
1 Robby Andrews adidas 2:19.85 Q 1 (1)
2 Kyle Merber Hoka One One 2:19.92 Q 1 (2)
3 Michael Rutt Hoka N J N Y 2:20.02 q 1 (3)
4 Cory Leslie Nike 2:20.52 q 1 (4)
5 Joseph Gioielli Unattached 2:21.87 q 1 (5)
6 James Gilreath adidas Tm Green 2:21.95 q 1 (6)
7 Liam Boylan-Pett N J N Y TC 2:23.45 q 1 (7)
8 Thomas Scott Unattached 2:24.17 Q 2 (1)
9 Harun Abda Nike / OTC Elite 2:24.24 (2:24.232) Q 2 (2)
10 Benjamin Scheetz N J N Y TC 2:24.24 (2:24.236) 2 (3)
11 Shawn Roberts N J N Y TC 2:24.38 2 (4)
12 Jeremy Wilk Unattached 2:26.11 2 (5)
13 Daniel Guerrero Big Bear TC 2:27.82 2 (6)

Men’s 1k:

Thomas Scott Thomas Scott is 3rd Guy on Left

Who the heck is Thomas Scott? *Day 1 Photo Gallery Here

Article continues below player.

Unless you follow NCAA Division II running, it’s a good bet you’d never heard of Scott, the winner of the second heat of the 1000, before today. Today he was sporting a New Balance singlet, Saucony spikes and adidas socks; you guessed it — he’s unsponsored. Scott is a 2012 graduate of Ashland University in Ohio, the same school that produced current D-II stud Drew Windle (1:46.91 pb). Right now, he’s a distance coach at another D-II school, Michigan Tech, located on Michigan’s Upper Peninsula on the southern shore of Lake Superior. Michigan Tech has received 230 inches of snow (over 19 feet) this year and got 320 last year, but don’t worry — they have an indoor track.

Scott is self-coached, but he enjoys having full control of the distance group at Michigan Tech (around 50 athletes), adding that many of his athletes gathered together on campus to stream his race today. He said that he wouldn’t mind gaining a coach but that he knows his body well.

Scott felt relaxed in his race, and said that the slower pace (compared to the first race) made his plan simple as all he had to do was focus on getting first or second to auto-qualify. On his goals for tomorrow’s final Scott said he simply has to “get out with the group, position myself and finish as best I can.”

Harun Abda is enjoying training with Mo Aman and is helping Aman adjust to life in American.

Abda is a big help as he speaks Oromo like Aman.

Kyle Merber Got A Big PR:

Merber bombed at Millrose (4:06 mile) but said he knew has in great shape, nerves got to him and he made way too many surges in the race. He had a 2:22 1k pb before tonight when he ran 2:19.

Robby Andrews looked great in his heat but was coy about what his strategy will be in the final.

Cory Leslie would like to pull the 1000-mile double tomorrow if possible

Leslie is entered in both events and said that he would talk to his coach tonight and decide from there whether he will remain in the mile (which takes place 55 minutes before the 1000). He said his plan is definitely to run the 1000 final, but he’d love to run the mile as well if possible. Leslie said he would have to draw on his high school doubling experience if he does run both races tomorrow.

Leslie is a steeplechaser outdoors (though he has great mile speed, with a 3:53 pb) but after a 1:47 800 and 3:56 mile (flat track) so far in 2015, he decided to switch it up and run the 1000 in Boston.

“[It’s] something different, another chance to work on certain tactics, work on a different system you don’t get to work on as a steeplechaser,” Leslie said.

Men’s 600

500-meter WR holder Brycen Spratling felt a little more tired after his 600 prelim today

Spratling looked pretty fatigued after his huge winning move in his 600 heat (he ran 25.96 for his final lap, over a second faster than anyone else in his heat), lying down in the mixed zone before speaking to the media. He said later that his legs felt a little more tired than he’s used to but he’ll be all right.

We were curious about his strategy — Spratling hung back and made a hard move on the final lap rather than leading from the front — as most might expect a 400-meter runner moving up to try and run away from the 800 guys moving down. Spratling approached it the opposite way: ”I don’t think anyone’s going to outkick me, so it worked out.” Speaking to Cas Loxsom later — who raced against Spratling in college — Loxsom wasn’t entirely surprised by Spratling’s strategy as he feels sometimes 400 runners are conservative i longer races as they may be worried how they will hold up over the extra distance at the end. Spratling did employ a conservative strategy early on, but he certainly didn’t look tentative; he looked like a man with a plan.

Cas Loxsom loves the 600 distance

Loxsom was feeling great after running the fastest time in the 600 prelims at 1:16.26. He said he loves the distance (he’s the American record holder indoors, at 1:15.58) and loves being able to race in Boston, which isn’t far from his home state of Connecticut. Loxsom reminisced about the New England HS Championships where he set the meet record of 1:18.72 in 2009. Loxsom was in attendance last night at 2015 New Englands and said he enjoyed watching two athletes from his alma mater claim titles.

He also entered the day as the facility record holder on the strength of that 1:18.72 and was glad he ended in the same place after lowering it significantly today. Loxsom was optimistic that he would still be the record-holder tomorrow but hopes the time will be quicker as he’s looking for a fast race.

The 600 is a crossover distance and as such, we were curious about whether Loxsom (who is as the closest thing to a 600 specialist in this day and age) viewed the 800 runner Sowinski or the 400 man Spratling as a bigger threat in tomorrow’s final. Loxsom views Spratling as an x-factor and knows he could contend for the win tomorrow, but said that since Sowinski has run 1:15.61 already — #2 on the all-time U.S. list, behind only Loxsom — that he is more worried about Sowinski.

Ryan Martin Just Finished His First Indoor Season

We made a point of catching up with Ryan Martin as he’s never really done indoors before. Tilastapaja.org doesn’t even list an 800 indoor pb for him. After running a 1k (2:22), he wanted to try a 600. While he didn’t make the final, he’s really happy with his training and hopes to get back to the 1:44 form he showed in 2012 (2013 was awful for him, but he got back to 1:45 last year).

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