There’s Never Been a Better Steeple at USAs as Evan Jager Wins #4; Top 3 All Beat Previous USA Meet Record

By LetsRun.com
June 28, 2015

EUGENE, Ore. — Evan Jager impressively won his fourth straight USA steeplechase title in a meet-record 8:12.29 as Donn Cabral in 2nd (8:13.37) and Dan Huling (8:14.11) in third all beat Dan Lincoln’s previous meet record of 8:15.02 from 2004.

Jager was the class of this field on paper and he took control with four laps to go, seizing the lead by running a 66.1 second lap. Cory Leslie was his closest chaser half a second back with three to go. Jager ratcheted down the pace again the next lap with a 64.2 and barely lengthened his lead as Cabral and Jager’s training partner Andy Bayer were .6 back. Jager was not done yet and threw in a 62.1 penultimate lap, but that only gave him less than a second over Cabral, who had a slight lead on Huling, Bayer, and Stanley Kebenei, who is now running for Nike. Those five were battling for the three spots. Jager went sub-60 (59.47) on the final lap to get the win in 8:12.29. It’s a good thing Jager had a sub-60 in him as Cabral and Huling both went sub-60 as well on the final lap to round out the top three. Huling had been starting to pull away from Kebenei for the final Worlds spot on the backstretch when Kebenei clipped a hurdle and went down. He’d get up and still finish 5th behind Bayer who, PR’d in 4th.

What a Steeple This Was – Jager 4th Straight, Cabral PRs, Huling’s second-best time ever, Bayer PRs, Kebenei Close to a PR with a Fall

Evan Jager wins Evan Jager wins

Jager should contend for a medal at Worlds this year and he has raised the bar in the US steeple ranks. It was a surprise to see so many guys so close to him. However, they were close to him not because Jager was having an off day but because they were running out of their minds.

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Cabral PR’d in Oslo earlier this month in 8:19.07, just better than his 8:19.14 from 2012. He took that all the way down to 8:13.37 today. Huling’s time was his second-fastest ever, close to his 8:13.29 pr from five years ago.

Cabral made the Olympic team in 2012, but struggled in 2013 with Lyme disease and issues in his training last year (though he still managed to finish third at USAs). Today’s run was a confirmation he is totally healthy and totally back. He said things have gone great all year and it showed today. He said he does not want to think about how sub-8:10 is just around the corner because he does not believe that is the best way to approach it.

Huling said he did not feel great in the final mile, but he would ultimately realize one of the reasons why – they were running very fast and would close even faster.

Bayer had more than a four-second pr in 4th and Kebenei, even with the fall, was less than three seconds off his 8:23.93 pr.

Post-race interviews and results below.

Race video here.

Evan Jager:

Donn Cabral Huge PR

Dan Huling #2 Time

Andy Bayer PR:

Place Name Affiliation Time 200m 600m 1000m 1400m 1800m 2200m 2600m 3000m
1 Evan Jager Nike / Bowerman 8:12.29 37.45 [37.45] 1:45.64 [1:08.20] 2:53.22 [1:07.59] 4:00.36 [1:07.14] 5:06.50 [1:06.14] 6:10.69 [1:04.19] 7:12.83 [1:02.14] 8:12.29 [59.47]
2 Donald Cabral NIKE 8:13.37 37.32 [37.32] 1:45.40 [1:08.09] 2:53.01 [1:07.61] 4:00.17 [1:07.16] 5:07.44 [1:07.28] 6:11.28 [1:03.84] 7:13.78 [1:02.51] 8:13.37 [59.59]
3 Daniel Huling NIKE 8:14.11 37.62 [37.62] 1:45.92 [1:08.31] 2:53.48 [1:07.56] 4:00.67 [1:07.20] 5:07.24 [1:06.57] 6:11.67 [1:04.44] 7:14.13 [1:02.46] 8:14.11 [59.99]
4 Andrew Bayer Nike / Bowerman 8:21.44 37.83 [37.83] 1:46.11 [1:08.29] 2:53.64 [1:07.53] 4:00.91 [1:07.28] 5:07.36 [1:06.45] 6:12.27 [1:04.92] 7:14.88 [1:02.62] 8:21.44 [1:06.56]
5 Stanley Kebenei NIKE 8:26.79 37.78 [37.78] 1:46.02 [1:08.25] 2:53.67 [1:07.65] 4:00.79 [1:07.12] 5:07.47 [1:06.68] 6:12.01 [1:04.55] 7:14.23 [1:02.22] 8:26.79 [1:12.56]
6 Cory Leslie NIKE 8:28.08 37.14 [37.14] 1:45.06 [1:07.93] 2:52.67 [1:07.61] 3:59.85 [1:07.18] 5:07.05 [1:07.21] 6:13.42 [1:06.37] 7:21.70 [1:08.29] 8:28.08 [1:06.39]
7 Tabor Stevens ASICS 8:30.18 38.04 [38.04] 1:46.43 [1:08.39] 2:54.08 [1:07.65] 4:01.09 [1:07.01] 5:07.78 [1:06.70] 6:13.81 [1:06.03] 7:22.13 [1:08.33] 8:30.18 [1:08.05]
8 Donnie Cowart Saucony 8:31.57 38.07 [38.07] 1:46.26 [1:08.20] 2:53.84 [1:07.58] 4:01.24 [1:07.40] 5:08.27 [1:07.04] 6:14.54 [1:06.27] 7:22.61 [1:08.08] 8:31.57 [1:08.97]
9 Craig Forys New York A C 8:34.40 38.76 [38.76] 1:46.83 [1:08.08] 2:54.33 [1:07.51] 4:01.56 [1:07.23] 5:08.67 [1:07.11] 6:16.25 [1:07.59] 7:25.52 [1:09.28] 8:34.40 [1:08.89]
10 Darren Fahy Georgetown 8:35.25 38.83 [38.83] 1:47.54 [1:08.71] 2:55.34 [1:07.80] 4:04.00 [1:08.67] 5:13.31 [1:09.31] 6:22.66 [1:09.36] 7:30.80 [1:08.15] 8:35.25 [1:04.45]
11 Matt Cleaver Adidas/Rogue 8:35.67 38.42 [38.42] 1:47.22 [1:08.80] 2:55.98 [1:08.76] 4:03.80 [1:07.83] 5:13.22 [1:09.42] 6:23.09 [1:09.88] 7:29.88 [1:06.79] 8:35.67 [1:05.79]
12 Austin Bussing Adidas/Rogue 8:38.77 38.87 [38.87] 1:47.44 [1:08.57] 2:55.59 [1:08.15] 4:03.54 [1:07.96] 5:12.81 [1:09.27] 6:22.24 [1:09.44] 7:31.08 [1:08.84] 8:38.77 [1:07.70]
13 Mason Ferlic Michigan 8:40.18 39.04 [39.04] 1:47.14 [1:08.10] 2:54.76 [1:07.62] 4:02.33 [1:07.57] 5:10.31 [1:07.99] 6:19.57 [1:09.27] 7:29.94 [1:10.37] 8:40.18 [1:10.25]
14 Carl Stones Unattached 8:46.92 38.58 [38.58] 1:47.70 [1:09.12] 2:56.04 [1:08.35] 4:04.32 [1:08.28] 5:13.67 [1:09.36] 6:23.00 [1:09.33] 7:32.67 [1:09.68] 8:46.92 [1:14.25]
Evan Jager after the race Evan Jager after the race
Evan Jager celebrates Evan Jager celebrates
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