The women’s 1,500-meter run at the Oregon Twilight Meet provided Olympic hopefuls Kerri Gallagher and Geena Gall-Lara another tune-up before the Prefontaine Classic later this month.
Gallagher won in 4:12.94, roughly four seconds off the U.S. Olympic standard, and Gall-Lara finished second in 4:13.70.
While neither runner was overly excited with her time, both saw the competitive race as a positive.
“It was good,” Gallagher said. “The track was incredible as always. I knew we had a good field, and I was just ready to run a good race and try to be competitive.”
“My legs felt a little tired, but I’m happy with the time for sure,” Gall-Lara said. “I would have loved to win it and run 4:12, but 4:13 is pretty solid.”
Windy conditions prevented any standard times, but didn’t hinder a close race.
“Coming into the week I wanted a fast time, but I’m still trying to hit that U.S.A. standard,” Gallagher said. “But when there’s a little bit of wind, I just wanted to be competitive.”
Both Gallagher and Gall-Lara will resume their outdoor seasons at the Occidental Distance Carnival and Sprints Festival in southern California next weekend, but Gall-Lara will have to switch gears to prepare for a stacked 800-meter race.
“I’m really pumped to race against some of the girls from World Relays and get a fast one before Pre,” Gall-Lara said.
“The more you race, the faster you get,” Gallagher said. “As long as I can race well, I’m really happy.”
Melissa Salerno led the second pack of runners and finished third in 4:18.35, Erica Digby of the Vancouver Thunderbird Track Club finished fourth in 4:20.12, while Oregon’s Alli Cash and Katie Porada followed in 4:21.39 and 4:23.07, respectively.
