By Stephen Kersh
February 17, 2018
We have arrived in Albuquerque for the second consecutive year to bring you the goods from the 2018 USATF Indoor Championships. The best athletes competing here this weekend will go on to compete at the IAAF World Indoor Championships in Birmingham (U.K) in two weeks.
If you’re planning on watching the meet live on TV, it will be shown today on NBC Sports Network from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. ET. Streaming on NBC Sports Gold will start at 3 p.m. and run till 7 p.m.
Today’s finals include: The men’s weight throw, the women’s triple jump, the men’s pole vault, the men’s long jump, the women’s shot put, the men’s high jump and the men’s and women’s 3,000 meters.
The CITIUS MAG team will be providing as good of intel as we can muster for your enjoyment. We were not granted the seats we requested in the media zone, so a LOT of this is speculation.
Men’s and Women’s 60-meter
It appears everyone has qualified for the next rounds save a few athletes, as well as Ryan, Scott, and myself.
Women’s 800-meter (First Round)
Heat 1
Ajee Wilson took the crew (Hanna Green, Chrishuna Williams) through in 28.3 and those three quickly separated themselves from the rest of the field. Green gave Wilson a solid chase, but Wilson punched her auto ticket in 2:01.95. Green just behind. She’ll have to see if her time holds! SPOOKY!
Heat 2
Raevyn Rogers, Kaela Edwards, and Baylee Mires are headlining this heat. Mires with some fun looking Princess Leia hair.
Enough about hairstyles, let’s talk about the race!
Here’s a thing I will do periodically this weekend. I am going to write out how I assume a race will play out and then will correct it (if I’m wrong).
“And there’s Raevyn Rogers taking the field through the first 400 in just under 60-seconds. Edwards hanging on, along with Barowski. Rogers pulls away at the end to seal her way to the final!”
Wow. That was exactly what happened. I am a genius.
Rogers with the dub in 1:59.95. Fastest American time this year!
Heat 3
This heat is great because Erica Charles is wearing sunglasses. This is an indoor meet. This is now an Erica Charles fan blog.
Erica did not win. Ce’Aira Brown won in a personal-best 2:01.43.
QUALIFIERS:
Men’s 800-meter (First Round)
WOMEN’S 400-meter
The ol’ two-lapper. Not certain how qualifying works, but I *do* know it must be helpful to win your heat.
Heat 1
Shakima Wimbley runs away with this one in 51.39. Natasha Hastings in second (52.11).
Heat 2
Georganne Moline is the tops of this heat, but honestly all of these women look incredibly fast.
Men’s 400-meter
Again. The ol’ two lapper.
Heat 1
WHOA. Dontavius Wright wins it in 45.76. After going out in 21.xx. So while he did not run a “negative” split. He did run very fast. There you go, folks. My opinion.
Heat 2
Fred Kerley in this one. Watch out! He takes it in a shade over 45 seconds. I must say: that was the smoothest 400 I’ve seen run today.
Heat 3
Ok Michael CHERRY and Michael BERRY are in this heat. Confusing, but we can get through this. Hold my hand.
Cherry takes the battles of the ERRY in 45.83.
Fred Kerley
Women’s 3000-meter
Alright so here’s the race all you nerds showed up for. The ol’ 15 lapper.
If you want to know who I think will win, it is Shelby Houlihan. Marielle Hall, a newly-minted Bowerman Babe, is also in this race. Some other names you may know? EMMA COBURN. KATIE MACKEY. You don’t want to go anywhere. Stay with us. (Ira Glass voice).
The ladies are jogging through 400. No one looking too excited to take the lead. Could it be the altitude? The nerves? Stay tuned to find out!
Coburn starting to push for the lead and definitely tightening the screws on the pace. Paquette leads with Coburn, Mackey, Hall, Houlihan, and Mel Lawrence in tow at 2K.
With 800 to go, Coburn put in a nice move to break up the pack a bit. She is trailed closely by Mackey and Houlihan. I *believe* Houlihan is prepping to rip some races off over the last lap.
Aaaaaaaaaand I was right. With a 28-second last lap, Houlihan bests Mackey and Coburn.
Men’s 3000-meter
Closing out Day 1 of USATF Indoors at the Albuquerque Convention Center is the men’s 3000-meter. Some fast fellas here: Chelimo, Hill, Heath, Kipchirchir. They’re all here! And they are ready to RACE!
Chelimo is in the lead with Bor and Kipchirchir. They look to be using some team tactics. Which is nice.
At the 1400 mark, Paul Chelimo has started to sprint.
Very bunched now with 1200 meters to go. Heath and Yorks are balling out. Hill obviously in the mix.
Chelimo and Kipchirchir beat out a group of folks closing in 26 seconds for the final 200. What a doozy.
Stephen Kersh
Former collegiate runner for University of Portland and Georgetown, currently a professional runner weighing sponsorship offers from no one. Enjoys using the internet to message Scott Olberding and Paul Snyder about bad story ideas. Does not assume he will work at Citius much longer due to the bad story ideas. He once gave a TED Talk titled "Twitter: How We Are All Just Shouting into a Vacuum" to his best friend and his girlfriend on the beaches of Connecticut.