Why You Can’t Miss the USA Track and Field National Championships – runnersworld.com

Among all the athletes competing, Molly Huddle owns the most hardware—over the years, she’s racked up 27 national titles, and she currently holds the American record for the 10,000 meters (30:13:17, set in Rio in 2016). But her biggest competition coming into this year’s race is likely the runner who’s been by her side in every recent workout.

Earlier this year, Huddle and her training partner, Emily Sisson, prepared for and raced the London Marathon, which was Sisson’s first attempt at the distance. Before the marathon, the partners competed in a fast 10,000 meters at Stanford University, where Sisson placed first in a personal best time of 30:49 and Huddle finished runner-up in 30:58. In London, Sisson crossed the line in a blazing debut time of 2:23:08, while Huddle finished a few minutes later in 2:26:33. Sisson’s hot streak goes back further, too. Last November, she won the national road 5K title in New York City and then set a major half marathon PR (1:07:30) in Houston in January.

Will Sisson catch the two-time Olympian in what’s arguably her best race? We’ll be watching the clock.

Seven-time national champion Emma Coburn—who is the defending world champion and has a PR of 9:02.58 in the event—will face off against a few new and a few familiar faces in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. She’s toeing the line with 2017 world championship silver medalist Courtney Frerichs of the Bowerman Track Club (BTC), who set the American record (9:00.85) last year, as well as a fast field that includes BTC’s Colleen Quigley and three-time NCAA champion Allie Ostrander.

So far this season, Coburn has looked as strong as ever. Earlier in June, she ran an almost-personal best time of 4:05.24 in the 1500 meters in Nashville, Tennessee, then came back later that month to place second in the steeplechase at the Prefontaine Classic in 9:04.90, which is her second-fastest finish of all time. Teammates Frerichs and Quigley also competed in the Prefontaine Classic, finishing in 9:09.75 and 9:11.41, respectfully.

In the unlikely event that Coburn doesn’t finish in the top three, fans need not worry: As the defending world champ, she gets automatic entry into the world meet. The U.S. squad for Doha will be Coburn and the first three finishers besides her.

Craig Engels of the Nike Oregon Project already wins style points for his mustache-and-mullet combination, but this summer, he’s looking for a second national title to add to his medal collection. In February, the Portland, Oregon-based middle distance runner unleashed a killer kick to win the indoor national one-mile in 3:59.69, finishing the second half of his race 11 seconds faster than the first half.

After his indoor race, he told Runner’s World that this year he’s focused on keeping up the momentum he showed in 2018, when he finished runner-up in the indoor world championships 1500 meters and won the Falmouth Road Mile. Rather than “just running,” Engels said he has been “working on strength training and focusing more on becoming a full athlete” this year. So far, his hard work has delivered: In the month of June alone, he posted personal bests in the 800 meters (1:44.68), 1500 meters (3:35.52), and mile (3:51.60).

In the men’s 1500 in Des Moines, Engels will be up against his former Nike teammate who’s now a member of the Bowerman Track Club, Matthew Centrowitz, as well as Henry Wynne, Johnny Gregorek, and Brandon Kidder, all of whom currently have faster seed times than Engels.

In the women’s 1500 meters, Jenny Simpson—who won the national title in the event four years in a row from 2014 to 2017—is eyeing another victory, but she’ll face some stiff competition to get it. Her biggest threat is Shelby Houlihan of BTC, who last year won the national title in the 1500 meters and 5,000 meters, and later went on to set the American 5,000-meter record, 14:34.35, in Belgium. So far this year, Houlihan and Simpson have posted nearly identical season-best 1500 times: In June, Houlihan went 3:59.64 at the Prefontaine Classic, while Simpson went 3:59.83 in Morocco.

While the seed times of the reigning and former national champions are far ahead of the rest of the field, it will be a tight race for the third spot on the World Championship team. The favorite is certainly Houlihan’s BTC teammate Kate Grace, who won the 2016 Olympic Trials 800 meters and set a PR time of 4:02.99 in the 1500 meters last month.

Other athletes to watch include Alexa Efraimson (who has a 4:04.06 seed time), Helen Schlachtenhaufen (4:05.49), Nikki Hiltz (4:05.56), Emily Lipari (4:05.68), and Cory McGee (4:05.68). Hiltz has been racking up podium spots on the roads and track lately, nabbing first in the 1500 meters at the USATF Distance Classic and the Sunset Tour, and also taking home titles in Boston’s BAA mile and the Grand Blue Road Mile in Des Moines, Iowa.

An upcoming senior at the University of Kansas, Bryce Hoppel has gone undefeated in the 800 meters for his 2019 indoor and outdoor track seasons. That means he’s won 20—that’s right, 20—800-meter races over the past two college seasons, including the NCAA national indoor and outdoor championships. At the NCAA outdoor championships in Austin, Texas, in June, Hoppel took the 800 meter title in a career-best time of 1:44.41. He then went on to out-lean Craig Engels at the Sunset Tour 800 meters in Azura, California, winning in 1:44.48.

Hoppel’s winning streak will be tough to defend at USAs, though, considering he has two of Nike Oregon Project’s top middle-distance runners to compete against: Clayton Murphy, who won bronze in the 800 meters at the 2016 Rio Olympics and holds a PR of 1:42.93 in the event, and Donavan Brazier, who won the 800 meters at the 2017 USATF Outdoor Track and Field Championships and set the indoor 800-meter national record (1:44.41) earlier this year.

For the first time in eight years, Olympic silver medalist Evan Jager will not be toeing the starting line of the steeplechase at USATF Outdoor Nationals. The 30-year-old is at the end of one of the most challenging years of his career: he suffered from an initial misdiagnosis and later a stress fracture in the talus, the bone between the heel and the lower leg, and hasn’t been able to compete in the steeplechase since August 30, 2018.

While Jager initially thought he might be able to run at nationals—despite only having run on the ground for 40 days, according to an interview he did with Letsrun.com—he ultimately scratched from the event.

Without the seven-time national champion in the field, the steeplechase title is up for grabs. We’re keeping our eyes on 2016 Olympian Hillary Bor, who had a breakthrough performance of 8:08.40 in Doha, Qatar, in May.

At the NCAA Outdoor Championships, Sha’Carri Richardson lit the track on fire when she broke the collegiate record in the 100 meters. Her dominant performance of 10.75 seconds broke the 30-year-old NCAA record of 10.78 set by Dawn Sowell. In the same day, Richardson finished second in the 200 meters in a time of 22.17, and in the process, she clocked the fifth fastest time in collegiate history.

Shortly after the NCAA meet, Richardson announced her decision to forgo her remaining college eligibility so she could compete as a professional. On June 30, she made her pro debut in the 100 meters at the Prefontaine Classic, where she finished fourth against winner Marie-Josée Ta Lou, Aleia Hobbs, and Teahna Daniels.

The national championships will be a highly anticipated competition for the 19-year-old breakout star who will compete in the 100 meters and 200 meters for a chance to represent Team USA in her first senior championship.

The fastest sprinters in the world this year—Noah Lyles and Christian Coleman—will only meet for one event, but it will be a must-watch. As he informed Reuters, Lyles opted to focus on the 200 meters in Des Moines with the priority being the 100-200 double at the 2020 Olympic Trials next year. Lyles, 21, is currently the world leader in the 200 meters after running 19.50 seconds at the Lausanne Diamond League meeting on July 5. The performance is the fourth-fastest in history behind Usain Bolt, Yohan Blake, and Michael Johnson.

Coleman, 23, is entered in both the 100 meters and the 200 meters in Des Moines and currently holds the fastest 100-meter time in the world this year, with a season’s best of 9.81 from the Prefontaine Classic on June 30. Lyles is No. 2 in the world with a season’s best of 9.86 from the Shanghai Diamond League meeting, where he beat Coleman to the line.

While Coleman has only contested the 200 meters twice this season—and holds a season best of 19.91—the half-lap contest will be the first time the rivals have competed against each other since Lyles beat Coleman in Shanghai.

In just her first year as a professional, 19-year-old Sydney McLaughlin has risen to the top of the world ranks with victories in five of the six races she’s contested this season. Her most recent and fastest performances came at the Monaco Diamond League meeting. She sprinted to a 400-meter hurdles season’s best and world leading mark of 53.32. The time is inching closer to the 2016 Olympian’s career best of 52.75, which she set at the 2018 SEC Championships while breaking the collegiate record as a freshman at the University of Kentucky.

McLaughlin’s competition heading into the national championship will be extremely tough, as defending Olympic champion and two-time world silver medalist Dalilah Muhammad is also nearly undefeated this year. But the loss is notable: McLaughlin beat Muhammad, 29, to the line at the Oslo Diamond League meet on June 13, which was also McLaughlin’s Diamond League debut in the 400-meter hurdles. Prior to Oslo, Muhammad set a season’s best and then-world leading mark of 53.61 when she earned the meet victory at the Doha Diamond League meeting on May 3.