A day before the Oregon Twilight Meet, Edward Cheserek was nowhere to be seen on the entries list. Just hours before the men’s 3,000 meters was to be run, GoDucks.com editor Rob Moseley announced on Twitter that Cheserek would, in fact, run the race on Friday night.
Nearly a month after running an injury-stricken second-place in the 5,000-meter race at the Pepsi Invitational, Cheserek came back to narrowly lose to Lewis and Clark State’s Sam Atkin. When asked about how he felt after the race, Cheserek stated that he’s about “a 70 percent.”
Atkin, originally from England and currently a senior at Lewis and Clark State College in Idaho, tore down the homestretch to defeat Cheserek in a personal-best time of 7:56.79. Cheserek finished second in 7:57.26.
“The last two laps I was feeling really good, so I thought, ‘Why not? Let’s just go for it, I’ve got nothing to lose,’” Atkin said. “Edward Cheserek is the distance runner and I know he’s not on form right now, but I mean, I did my best to keep with him. And it was a great race for the fans here and it’s always fun to have a sprint finish at the end.”
Cheserek was leading at the bell lap, but Atkin began to make up ground with 150 meters to go. Cheserek turned his head multiple times to see Atkin gaining within 110 meters of the finish and continued to push the pace. It wasn’t until Atkin kicked past Cheserek in the last 50 meters that Cheserek eased up to finish in second.
Before the race, third-place finisher Eric Avila shook Cheserek’s hand. Cheserek went on to ask Avila, “Are you the guy?”
Yes, Avila was the guy. Although Cheserek wasn’t signed up to race the 3,000 before Friday, there had been talk about Cheserek running. Avila wouldn’t confirm exactly the time when he found out that Cheserek would be running, but simply stated, “I knew.”
According to Avila, he, his coach and Andy Powell, the Oregon associate head coach, had spoken about Avila potentially pacing Cheserek.
This race acted as a workout for Avila, who hopes to achieve the Olympic-qualifying mark at the Occidental All on the Line meet next weekend. His coach told him not to kick, but to keep a constant pace, so that is what he did.
“I joked to one of the guys,” Avila said. “I was like yeah, I had the best seat in the house watching these guys duke it out.”
Atkin was not aware that Cheserek was going to run until 15 minutes before the race.
“I thought it was just going to be me and Avila … I thought I was just going to run with him, but apparently Edward Cheserek was in the race.”
When asked about the chance he thought he had in beating Cheserek, Atkin replied with, “about one percent.”
“Maybe I should not look at the [entries] list, who’s running, and just run my own race and do my best,” Atkin said.
Cheserek, on the other hand, was focused on Avila’s pacing, and unaware of the Lewis and Clark State foreigner.
“I had no idea,” Cheserek said. “I was worried about myself. I wasn’t worried about someone else.”
Cheserek looks to get fully recovered before the Pac-12 Championships next weekend in Seattle, Washington, while Atkin prepares for the NAIA National Championships in Gulf Shores, Alabama that begin on May 26.
