By Isaac Gibson
It was do or die for eight of the 13 runners who did not have the Olympic standard of 3 minutes, 36 seconds at the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials in the men’s 1,500 meters.
Knowing that, Jordan McNamara, Izaic Yorks and Eric Avila worked together to push the pace early in hopes of achieving the standard.
The result: it was the fastest 1,500 ever ran in the Olympic trials
Matt Centrowitz, of the Nike Oregon Project, won in 3:34.09, breaking Steve Scott’s 3:35.15 record set in 1980. Behind him were Robby Andrews and Ben Blankenship, who ran 3:34.88 and 3:36.18, respectively.
“To come out with a win shows that I am ready for whatever they throw at me now at Rio,” said Centrowitz. “Last year we showed that we could put three guys in the final at Beijing, and I expect us three here to be in the final at Rio.”
Centrowitz, Andrews, Blankenship, Leo Manzano and Kyle Merber were the only ones who went into the race the with the Olympic qualifying standard. Anyone who placed in the top three and did not have the standard would not make the team.
McNamara, of Oregon Track Club Elite, said after the semifinal round that he wanted to work with another runner to make the race an honest one. Izaic Yorks, who graduated from the University of Washington last month, answered the call.
It was McNamara’s job to take the race out first, and he came through the first 300 in 42.95. Yorks took the lead after the first lap and brought the group through 800 at 1:57, but he began to fade from there.
“I was pretty fried by 800, which is an abnormal thing for me,” said Yorks. “It has just been a really, really long season. In essence, this is my fourth national championship.”
When it came down to 100 meters to go, it was apparent that Centrowitz and Andrews had the first two spots wrapped up. The real race was going to be between Blankenship and Manzano for who would get the last spot on the team.
“I knew every time I was running next to Leo at the end it would be a shoulder-to-shoulder race,” said Blankenship. “Him and I are like magnets – we connect.”
Said Manzano, “I just didn’t have any more in the tank, and I do not know what I can attribute that to. I still think I had a really great race because I stayed out of trouble as much as possible, and the only thing was I just didn’t have the will that last 100 meters.”
It was Manzano’s first time finishing outside of the top three at a national championship in 10 years.
