Andrew ran his second consecutive track personal best this past weekend at the Trackfest meet in Los Angeles. Andrew chopped 18 seconds off his PR, running 28:08 to finish 3rd, and take down his 28:26 best from 2018.
Andrew quickly found his place in the front 1/3 of the pack after the gun went off. And with 27:40 pace on the docket from the pacemakers, the pack strung out into a single file line fairly quickly. Coming into 4000m the final pacer and the runner in 2nd had opened a small gap on the field. As the pacer stepped off at 4k, Andrew moved wide and into 2nd place in an attempt to close the gap and move up into the slipstream of the new leader.
Casey Clinger, who would go on to win the race, put in a small surge once he got the lead and Andrew wasn’t quite able to fully close the gap. He would slide back to the chase pack and tuck in before taking a turn at the front of the group a few laps later.
With the pacemaker gone the group went from running 66-67 second laps to 68-69 second laps through the middle of the race. With a 1000m to go, Andrew surged to the front of the pack, running his penultimate lap in 65 seconds, his fastest of the day. The move propelled Andrew into 2nd place at the bell. Andrew ratcheted the pace down another notch, running 63 seconds his last lap to finish 3rd and stop the clock at 28:08.
His 28:08 places him 27th on the Olympic Trials qualifying list with the top 24 athletes qualifying for the Trials. There is a strong possibility that not everyone on the list will race – either due to injury or focusing on a different event. But the takeaway is that Andrew’s mark will be very close to getting him into the Trials.
Andrew’s next race is to be determined, as much of the schedule from this point forward was dependent on the racing up to this point. You can find full results from Andrew’s race here.
Dan Sets Season Best at 1500m
Earlier the day at the Trackfest meet, Dan Schaffer and Eric van der Els both competed at 1500m in separate sections. Eric took to the track first and after the pacemaker stopped just after the first lap the pace began to immediately lag. Eric moved to the front, intent on keeping the door open to a fast time. He held the lead from 500m to 1100m when the lead pack hit he bell. Passing the finish line with a lap to go Eric slid back in the pack. He tucked into the group until the final 250m when he lost contact slightly, and would finish in 6th in a time of 3:43.10. After running 3:41 in March, Eric walked away disappointed, but the time was still the 2nd fastest time of his career.
In the next section Dan also walked away with the 2nd fastest time of his career. Dan was able to tuck into the pack early on, sliding through 800m in 1:57. After the pacemaker stepped off the pace slowed dramatically with the entire field hitting the bell in 2:43. Dan continued to ride the rail and found space to pop wide with 300m to go. He positioned himself well heading into the final 200m. And while he didn’t have quite the finishing kick to contend for the win he did close his final lap in 56 seconds to run 3:40.08 and finish 6th.
Both Dan and Eric are staying out in Los Angeles for the week (huge shout-out to long time Running Vacationer Tim Francis and his wife Lynn for hosting them!) and will be running it back on Friday in the 5k at the LA Grand Prix. There they will be eyeing the Olympic Trials standard of 13:25.
You can find full results for Dan (section 2) and Eric’s (section 3) 1500m races here.