Roisin Willis arrives, Houlihan returns, a brutal weekend for front-runners – Sunday at USATF Championships

The 2025 USATF Championships ended with a bang.

On the track, 2019 World 800m champion Donavan Brazier won the 800m in a personal best of 1:42.16 less than two months after returning from a three-year break from competition. But that wasn’t even the most impressive performance of the race as 16-year-old Cooper Lutkenhaus went from 5th to 1st the final 100m to finish second in 1:42.27. It’s one of the greatest performances ever by an American high school athlete (let alone a sophomore), and the 800 gets its own recap here.

Lyles Beats Bednarek, Stares Him Down, Gets Shoved

Noah Lyles stormed from behind to overtake Kenny Bednarek in the 200m final, and then stared over at Bednarek before he crossed the finish line. That led to a push from Bednarek as they slowed down after the race. WWE comes to USAs. Kevin Morris has some great photos of the incident and we have got quotes from both parties here, as Bednarek indicated this beef wasn’t just about what happened on the track today.

Hocker Gets 5000 title

One day after coming up short in his specialty 1500m, Cole Hocker stormed to victory in the 5000m, riding the rail to go from 7th to 1st over the final lap. Does it mean anything for Worlds in the 5000? We break down the 5000m here.

Below, we give five thoughts on the rest of USAs, which saw Shelby Houlihan return to the top of the US ranks after her 4-year doping suspension by winning the 5000m and 20-year-old Roisin Willis capture the 800.

Roisin Willis wins her first national title as the US will send an all-new team to Worlds in the women’s 800

Roisin Willis win the 2025 USATF 800m title (Kevin Morris photo)

With Nia Akins fading to 4th in the home straight and her fellow 2024 Olympians Juliette Whittaker and Allie Wilson failing to even make the final, the US will have a new-look squad in the women’s 800 this year consisting of three women who have never made a Worlds/Olympic team before.

Roisin Willis will lead that team. Two months after winning the NCAA title for Stanford, the 20-year-old ran a similarly patient race to move from 6th to 1st over the final 120 meters and win her first US title in 1:59.26. Willis, the 2022 world U20 champion, has had an up-and-down career at Stanford, winning the indoor title as a true freshman in 2023 before battling insomnia and depression later that year. Now she is the NCAA champ, US champ, and heading to her first Worlds.

Quite the transformation from 2024.

“I’ve kind of had the lowest of lows. Like, I feel like sometimes the greatest fear is, like, what if this happened? And it’s happened for me. So I know what it’s like to race bad. And I know that life goes on,” she said.

“I used to come to this meet with so many nerves. So, by the grace of God, I’m just out here running and having fun.”

Maggi Congdon, the 23-year-old recent NAU grad who just signed with Mike Smith’s Nike pro group in Flagstaff, was the surprise runner-up in 1:59.39 to cap a rapid rise in the 800. Though Congdon ran the 800 a bunch at NAU, her pb entering the year was only 2:04; she was more accomplished at 1500, where she ran 4:02 at the Olympic Trials last year. But after finishing 3rd in the NCAA 1500 this year, Congdon ran an 800 at the Sunset Tour meet in July and surprised herself by running 1:58.55. That convinced her to switch to the 800 at USAs. Good decision. *Post-race talk with Maggi here

Veteran Sage Hurta-Klecker was 3rd and was very grateful to make her first US Worlds team. Hurta-Klecker has had a lot of heartbreak at USAs over the years. At her first USAs in 2021, she fell and broke her wrist. She then finished 4th in 2023 and 5th last year despite losing momentum as part of Athing Mu-Nikolayev’s fall. Her latest dose of pain came at USA indoors this year, where she finished 3rd – again, one spot off the team.

Hurta-Klecker endured another fall today, but the good news is that it came after the finish line as she strained to hold off Akins for the third and final spot on the team. *Post-race talk with Sage is here

US leader Addy Wiley chose to hang back early and was 4th near the end of the final turn when Meghan Hunter moved out in front of her in an attempt to pass Hurta-Klecker. Hunter and Wiley’s legs tangled, sending Wiley flying out to lane 3 and ruining her momentum just as the kicking was getting going. We’ll never know whether Wiley would have made the team, but it was a bad break for Wiley, who is the latest in a long string of women over the last decade to endure a significant bump/fall in a US 800-meter final.

It was not a good weekend to be a front-runner at USAs

In Saturday’s men’s 1500 final, Yared Nuguse led until 120m to go but faded to 5th by the finish and wound up missing the team entirely. The same thing happened on Sunday in the 800 finals as both Josh Hoey and Nia Akins led until the final 100 but wound up off the team in 4th. While Hoey went out very fast (49.29), Akins was less aggressive and ran a negative split of 60.81-58.72. But the outcome was the same as both faded late.

Conversely, it was a good weekend for runners who were 7th at the bell. Jonah Koech went from 7th to 1st on the last lap in the 1500 final, which is exactly what Cole Hocker did in the 5000 final (though he had led most of the race prior to that point). And in the 800, Cooper Lutkenhaus was 7th at the bell and wound up 2nd in 1:42.27.

Cole Hocker did front-run most of the 5000m, but the pace was like a stroll in the park for him. On the final-lap he was coming from behind.

Shelby Houlihan follows the Cole Hocker playbook and wins her 6th outdoor US title

Shelby Houlihan back winning US titles

Much like the men’s 5000, the women’s 5000 was tactical and was won by the American record holder in the 1500m — Shelby Houlhan

This was Houlihan’s 6th outdoor US title but her first first in six years. There is a reason why Houlihan did not win any of those titles in that span: there wasn’t a USAs in 2020 and then she missed the next four due to her doping suspension. That’s the longest gap between US titles in the women’s 5000, but such a gap has happened in other events – Donavan Brazier’s win today was also his first at USAs since 2019.

Houlihan’s 61.85 last lap was way better than everyone else in the field and she won in 15:13.61. Just as in the 10k, Elise Cranny was second in 15:14.26 and 2025 US leader Josette Andrews rallied to make her first outdoor team at 15:15.01. Weini Kelati’s disappointing nationals continued as the US leader in the 10k (30:38.60) and US #2 in the 5000 (14:38.15) finished 4th, just like she did in the 10,000.

Houlihan has had quite the 2025 season. She won her first global medal at Worlds Indoors, a silver in the 3000, and now has returned to the top of the US in the 5000 (she was 2nd indoors in the 3000 and 4th in the 1500). If you think she didn’t intentionally dope, it’s an amazing comeback. If you think she did, you probably aren’t impressed at all.

Afterwards, Houlihan said she generally tries to look forward rather than backward, but said the reception to her personally had generally been positive. She said the goal for Worlds is to try and medal.

Bailey Hertenstein and Josette Andrews show the agony and ecstasy of running

The last lap of the women’s 5000 was full of drama. Bailey Hertenstein, who didn’t even make the final at last year’s Olympic Trials, made a huge move to the front to string out the field and gapping Andrews, who began to fade. With 120 meters to go, Hertenstein looked as if she was on her way to the biggest win of her career, and Andrews looked as if she was about to choke away a spot on the team

But a lot can change in the home straight. Hertenstein tied up badly, running her final 100 in 17.89 to fade to 5th. Andrews rallied for 3rd and will be heading to her first Worlds at age 29. *Interview with Hertenstein here *Interview with Andrews here

Pro running is hard as evidenced by Katelyn Tuohy & Elly Henes

From 2021-23, it was great to be a member of the NC State women’s team. In 2021, Elly Henes won the NCAA 5000 crown – the same title her mom and coach Laurie won 30 years previously – before running 14:52 in 2022 and 14:47 in 2023. After Henes departed, the Wolfpack, led by Katelyn Tuohy won three straight team titles in XC (2021, 2022, 2023). Along the way, Tuohy won four individual NCAA titles (one in xc, two indoors, one outdoors).

It’s hard to fathom that just a few short years later, the duo of Tuohy (15:47.28) and Henes  (15:47.33) would finish next-to-last and last at USAs, which is what they did in the 5000m today. Tuohy battled injuries in her first year as a pro in 2024, and Henes has twice suffered a pneumothorax (collapsed lung), the first of which required surgery. And in the unforgiving world of professional track, if you are not moving forward, you can get left behind.