Oregon freshman runner Jordan Hasay won the 1,500 meters and finished second in the 3,000 meters at the United States Junior Track & Field Championships in Des Moines, Iowa, qualifying for the IAAF World Junior Championships in both events July 19 in Moncton, New Brunswick.
Hasay dropped out of the senior competition to focus on the junior competitions, which paid off in the fifth lower-division championship of her career. Hasay took the 1,500m in 4:26.38 on Saturday, besting her nearest rival, Georgetown’s Rachel Schneider, by more than a second.
“The race went really slow. I kind of stayed in the front. I didn’t want to take the lead. But I ended up sharing the lead. I was going to wait until 300 to go. I got in the lead. I was relaxed. I tried not to press the pace,” Hasay said in a USA Track & Field press release. “With 300 to go, I slowly started to press. At the last 50, I went for it.”
In the 3,000m, Hasay’s 9:18.92 effort was not enough to best Wisconsin recruit Emily Sisson, who won Thursday’s event by less than two tenths of a second, but it was enough to set Hasay’s personal record in the event and qualify her for the World Junior Championships. The two competitors dueled for the final laps of the event before Sisson pulled out the victory.
In the senior championships, Oregon sprinter Amber Purvis broke the school record in the 200 meters en route to a fourth-place finish Sunday, top among college runners. The sophomore broke her own record of 23.09 seconds, finishing in 22.74 seconds.