Olivia Baker Wins With Lean At The Finish Of Women’s 800
By Oliver Hinson of DyeStat
Adam Spencer and Eric Holt battled to the line in the men’s elite mile at the Monmouth Mile in New Jersey, but it was Spencer who came out on top, breaking the tape in a time of 3:52.93.
Spencer, the Big Ten champion and NCAA fourth place finisher in the 1,500 meters for Wisconsin, has improved substantially this summer. Last month, he broke 3:50 in the mile for the first time, running 3:49.21 at the ISTAF meet in Berlin; before this season, his PB sat at 3:52.70. He also lowered his 1,500 PB from 3:34.45 to 3:32.88 this year.
Holt finished just six hundredths of a second behind Spencer, running 3:52.99, a season’s best by almost three seconds. The Puma runner has also enjoyed a productive summer; he ran a 1,500 PB of 3:32.95 in the prelims of the 1,500 at the USATF Championships, beating his previous best by over a second.
Abe Alvarado of Under Armour finished third on Thursday in 3:53.17, followed by Ryan Fowkes (3:55.49) and Kasey Knevelbard (3:55.56).
Meanwhile, Under Armour’s Alex Amankwah pulled out an upset win in the men’s 800 meters, running 1:46.09 to beat Sean Dolan of the Atlanta Track Club and Isaiah Harris of the Brooks Beasts. Amankwah was fourth at the bell and passed Dolan, Harris and Garrett O’Toole in the last lap.
Coming into this meet, Amankwah had only recorded four wins this season, and none of them had been against this caliber of competition. Last year, he finished third at this meet with a time of 1:47.26.
Dolan ran 1:46.17, half a second off his season’s best of 1:45.67. Harris ran 1:46.29, followed by O’Toole and Hazem Miawad of Empire Elite, who both ran 1:46.44.
Olivia Baker of the Atlanta Track Club broke the tape in the women’s 800 meters, out-leaning Emily Richards of Atalanta NYC at the line and earning her first win in two months and just her second of the season.
Baker ran 2:00.14, her third fastest time of the outdoor season. Last month, she made it to the semifinals of the 800 at the USATF Championships but did not advance to the final.
Early in the race, it looked like Ajee Wilson would be the one to beat — she came through the 400 mark in 57.45 seconds, leading the pack — but the two-time World Championship medalist faded in the second lap, falling to ninth place and finishing in 2:12.35.
Richards ran 2:00.33 for second place, about half a second off of her season’s best of 1:59.87…
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