This is day 3 of the 2024 NCAA Championships, and Paul Merca was there for RunBlogRun! We asked Paul to provide us with his big 3 moments each day from Eugene. Paul also provided us with photos as well. Paul Merca is the voice behind PaulMergablogspot.com, and has covered our sport at the highest levels since 1980.
EUGENE—University of Washington men’s head coach Andy Powell knows how to prepare guys to race the 1500 meters or the mile in big meets, such as the NCAA track & field championships.
The man whose streak dates back to the 2011 outdoor season, when Oregon’s Matthew Centrowitz won the 1500 meters (Andrew Wheating won the 2010 outdoor title but was primarily coached by Vin Lananna at Oregon), put Joe Waskom in the winner’s circle Friday night. Waskom came all the way from seventh place with 200 meters to go to win his second career NCAA outdoor title.
Waskom’s win was the fifth consecutive 1500/mile title won by a Husky, dating back to the 2022 NCAA outdoor race won by Waskom, the 2023 indoor mile won by Luke Houser, the 2023 outdoor 1500 won by Nathan Green, and this year’s indoor mile won by Houser.
As expected in a championship race situation, the pace was slow. The field, led by teammate Houser, went through in 62 seconds at 400 and 2:04 through 800.
Once the field passed the 800 mark, the real jockeying for position began as the field went through 1200 meters in about 3:00.
As they approached the final turn, Waskom was in fifth position close to the rail but saw an opening when Wisconsin’s Adam Spencer swung to the outside.
Like a running back following a lead blocker, Waskom patiently waited for Spencer to make his move, then when the leaders exited the turn and made the dash for home, he really hit the accelerator.
Waskom swung to lane three as Oregon’s Elliott Cook, the Pac-12 champion last month, held the rail, seemingly riding the roar of the Hayward Field faithful trying to will him to victory.
In the last twenty meters, Cook started losing his form, seemingly flailing away to get to the line first. Waskom held his form, catching Cook at the 1496-meter mark to win in 3:39.48 to Cook’s 3:39.57.
Green, the defending champion who beat Waskom at last year’s NCAA meet in Austin, Texas, finished tenth in 3:40.98, and Houser, who did most of the early work up front, was twelfth in 3:48.86.
In the mixed zone, Waskom told reporters, “I came into this program five years ago not knowing what to expect. Leaving here with two titles…
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