Cain (3rd, 4:09) moves on, Efraimson (6th, 4:12) unable to advance from US 1500 semis

 

Photos by Don Rich

Results Update: Alexa Efraimson finished 7th in her women's 1500 prelims heat at the US Outdoor Championships with a time of 4:12.89 and was unable to move onto the finals after struggling to close strong over the last 200 meters, while Mary Cain was 3 seconds ahead of her in 3rd place in the same heat with a time of 4:09.08. Efraimson was right there in good position among the rest of the field with a lap to go (3:05.53 split at 1100 meters), but the more experienced runners were able to pull away in the final 200 with the top 6 in the race moving onto the finals set for Sunday including Cain in her 1500 season debut.

 

Heat 2

 
Place Athlete Time       300m 700m 1100m >>
1 Jennifer Simpson
New Balance
4:08.36 Q     49.55
 
Rnk: 1
1:59.01
1:09.46
Rnk: 1   
3:04.95
1:05.94
Rnk: 1   
 
2 Stephanie Charnigo
NJNY TC
4:09.00 Q     50.01
 
Rnk: 8
1:59.48
1:09.47
Rnk: 8   
3:06.11
1:06.64
Rnk: 10   ↓ 2
 
3 Mary Cain
Nike Oregon Project
4:09.08 Q     49.64
 
Rnk: 2
1:59.12
1:09.49
Rnk: 2   
3:05.01
1:05.90
Rnk: 2   
 
4 Kate Grace
Oiselle
4:09.55 Q     50.19
 
Rnk: 11
1:59.68
1:09.50
Rnk: 12   ↓ 1
3:05.86
1:06.18
Rnk: 8   ↑ 4
 
5 Amanda Eccleston
Unattached
4:09.65 q     49.84
 
Rnk: 5
1:59.34
1:09.50
Rnk: 5   
3:05.34
1:06.01
Rnk: 4   ↑ 1
 
6 Sarah Brown
New Balance
4:10.78 q     50.22
 
Rnk: 12
1:59.75
1:09.53
Rnk: 13   ↓ 1
3:05.73
1:05.99
Rnk: 7   ↑ 6
 
7 Alexa Efraimson
Unattached
4:12.89       49.79
 
Rnk: 4
1:59.25
1:09.46
Rnk: 4   
3:05.33
1:06.09
Rnk: 3   ↑ 1
 
8 Nicole Schappert
Hoka One One / New York Athlet
4:13.47       49.89
 
Rnk: 6
1:59.38
1:09.50
Rnk: 7   ↓ 1
3:05.54
1:06.16
Rnk: 5   ↑ 2
 
9 Melissa Salerno
New Balance
4:14.71       50.32
 
Rnk: 13
1:59.67
1:09.36
Rnk: 11   ↑ 2
3:06.52
1:06.85
Rnk: 11   
 
10 Hillary Holt
College of Idaho
4:16.30       49.74
 
Rnk: 3
1:59.23
1:09.49
Rnk: 3   
3:05.99
1:06.77
Rnk: 9   ↓ 6
 
11 Amanda Winslow
Oiselle / New Jersey New York
4:17.80       50.02
 
Rnk: 9
1:59.52
1:09.51
Rnk: 9   
3:05.64
1:06.12
Rnk: 6   ↑ 3
 
12 Rebecca Tracy
Unattached
4:18.71       50.04
 
Rnk: 10
1:59.54
1:09.51
Rnk: 10   
3:06.66
1:07.12
Rnk: 12   ↓ 2
 
DNF Heather Wilson
NJNY TC
        49.93
 
Rnk: 7
1:59.38
1:09.46
Rnk: 6   ↑ 1
3:06.98
1:07.60
Rnk: 13   ↓ 7
 
DNS Christina Cazzola
University of Wisconsin-Oshkos
        0.00
 
 
:00.00
:00.00
:00.00
:00.00
 
DNS Brie Felnagle
adidas
        0.00
 
 
:00.00
:00.00
:00.00
:00.00

 

Preview: In heat 2 of the women's 1500 meter prelims at the US Outdoor Championships today (7:03 PM PT/10:03 PM ET start) in Sacramento, all of the runners in the field will be looking to try and advance onto the finals of the event. However, alll attention will be on the race within the race seeing two of the greatest female high school distance runners in the country's history competing head to head for the first time this outdoor season and first time since both ran with the elite pros at the Millrose Games mile in February.

Mary Cain and Alexa Efraimson are both declared and slated to toe the line together this evening in an extremely rare moment to see not one but two high school age athletes competing with the big girls in the US seniors championship. When they last raced at the Millrose Games, Cain proved herself to be the superior runner as the current Nike professional runner who has been finishing her senior year of high school back home in New York beat Efraimson as well as the rest of the pros in the field with a 4:27 victory at the Armory. Meanwhile, Efraimson finished 6th in the race with her mile PR performance of 4:32 as she took full advantage of the opportunity to run against top competition to be pulled along to a lifetime best.

The main reason why there is any hype to a match-up between Cain and Efraimson this weekend is because Cain has not run a 1500/mile since indoor as she shut down her season and missed Worlds due to injury, while Efraimson continued to progress and add more to her high school lore including setting the high school girls outdoor national record in the 1600 meter run (4:33.29) and lowered her 1500 meter time down to a US #2 all-time 4:07.05 from her 10th place finish at the adidas Grand Prix two weeks ago. Cain has a 1500 meter PR of 4:04.62, but has stated that she would like to run under 4 minutes by the end of the summer. Given that Cain will be shaking off some race rust and her fitness still unknown at the 1500 meter distance, there is thought that Efraimson could be a lot closer to challenging Cain at US Outdoor Championships than the 5 second gap which existed between them at the Millrose Games mile several months back. 

This may also be the only opportunity for Cain and Efraimson to race this year and see where the two match-up with each other. Cain was originally entered in the 1500 and 3K for US Juniors next weekend with Efraimson entered in the 1500, but Cain has scratched the 1500 and is currently only left entered in the 3K. Efraimson has been debating taking a similar path as Cain and going pro for her senior year of high school since she will have a tough time finding enough competition to push her in high school only races in the coming. This weekend's US Outdoor Championships will be a good measuring stick for Efraimson to see if she is ready to make that jump or if she should keep her amateur status for her senior year of high school and develop instead in the college system like many of our country's top pro distance runners did.

Last summer, Cain not only made it through the first round of US Outdoor Championships as a high school junior, but she ended up making the team for the World Championships and made it all the way to the finals in Moscow to make it virtually a no brainer for her to turn pro after that season. If Efraimson can at least make the finals of US Outdoor Championships in the 1500, it might make her more inclined to consider the going pro route for her senior year of high school. Regardless of Efraimson's future decisions and the outcome of tonight's head to head matchup, it will be an exciting moment for our sport at the high school level to see both Cain and Efraimson racing against each other in the same race just after 7:03 PM PST later today in the women's 1500 prelims at the 2014 US Outdoor Championships. Start list of their heat can be found below.

Heat 2

 
Lane Athlete Affiliation
1 Amanda Eccleston Unattached
2 Jennifer Simpson New Balance
3 Melissa Salerno New Balance
4 Kate Grace Oiselle
5 Stephanie Charnigo NJNY TC
6 Christina Cazzola University of Wisconsin-Oshkos
7 Alexa Efraimson Unattached
8 Amanda Winslow Oiselle / New Jersey New York
9 Brie Felnagle adidas
10 Mary Cain Nike Oregon Project
11 Heather Wilson NJNY TC
12 Rebecca Tracy Unattached
13 Nicole Schappert Hoka One One / New York Athlet
14 Sarah Brown New Balance
15 Hillary Holt College of Idaho