Karissa Schweizer recently won the USATF 10,000-meter championship, and she’s trying to qualify for Worlds in the 5,000.
The 26-year-old Bowerman Club runner has some range, though, as she blew away a quality Portland Track Festival women’s 1,500 field Saturday night at Lewis & Clark College.
Schweizer turned the high-performance 1,500 into a one-woman race during the final lap. The only drama left during the stretch was staring Schweizer in the face: the clock at the finish line.
Desperately wanting to beat 4 minutes, Schweizer just missed, hitting the line in 4:00.75. Schweizer won her heat by more than three seconds over runner-up Eleanor Fulton.
“I thought I had it. Just short, so I’m definitely eyeing that barrier,” said Schweizer, whose lifetime 1,500 best is 4:00.02.
What Schweizer did Saturday wasn’t easy. Just two weeks ago she won the USATF 10K in Eugene, which isn’t exactly run like a 1,500.
“I think it’s good to draw myself into these challenges, because it’s a way faster race and I need to get that rust from the 10K out,” Schweizer said.
Schweizer came to win, which she did stylishly, but she wanted more.
“I’m really eyeing that four-flat barrier. I just need someone in that last lap to really push me … I need that extra gear,” Schweizer said.
The men’s high-performance 1,500 was anything but a procession, as Notre Dame’s Yared Nuguse pulled away from a pack of runners to win in 3:34.98. Nuguse boosted his 1,500 stock heading into the USATF meet in Eugene in two weeks.
“Super encouraging. Feel a lot better confidence wise,” Nuguse said.
Nuguse has battled untimely quad and hamstring injuries during the past two years. Nuguse was in Tokyo to compete in the 2021 Olympics, but was forced to withdraw due to injury. A hamstring injury curtailed his senior season at Notre Dame this spring.
Rather than run in Eugene this week at the NCAAs, Nuguse found himself 100 miles north at Lewis & Clark. It took some doing to take first, as Nuguse found himself far back of the leaders with a lap remaining. But heading into the stretch, Nuguse moved to the outside and ran down several runners, eventually beating runner-up Johnny Gregorak by .31 of a second.
“I was a little worried being that far back. Coming into that last lap, I was able to shift gears and find that gear that I haven’t used since indoors last year,” Nuguse said.
Former Oregon runner Raevyn Rogers easily handled the 800 field, winning in a time of 1:58.90. Rogers finished about a second ahead of runner-up Sabrina Southerland.
Rogers, the 2021 Olympic 800 bronze medalist, called Saturday’s race the next step in prepping for Worlds. Though she would have liked more.
“You get so caught up in how good you’re training, that you want every race to show it,” Rogers said. “This race, we wanted to make sure we cleaned up a little bit. My race at Pre (two weeks ago) was a little messy, a little more crowded.”
Canadian Brandon McBride outkicked the men’s 800 field to win in a time of 1:45.22.
The 5,000 high-performance races were fast. Australian Patrick Tiernan set a meet record, winning in time of 13:19.14. Four women bested the World’s 5,000 time standard, with Weini Kelati emerging as the winner in 14:57.07.
The high-performance middle and long distance races capped the Portland Track Festival’s two-day run. Among Friday’s high-performance winners were Wesley Kiptoo in men’s 10,000 (28:19.87) and Daiana Ocampo in women’s 10,000 (32:52.19).
–Nick Daschel | ndaschel@oregonian.com | @nickdaschel
