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Linden, Merber and Andrews Headline Adrian Martinez Classic

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DyeStatPRO.com   Jun 2nd 2015, 8:38pm
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Stars Seek Qualifying Standards and Tune-Up Races

By Scott Bush

The Adrian Martinez Classic takes place Thursday evening in Concord, Massachusetts, and the distance-only event is once again loaded with talent. Whether it’s U.S. Olympians squaring off, national title contenders tuning up for the USA Outdoor Championships or athletes shooting for qualifying times, this meet has something for all fans.

Linden, D’Agostino Lead Deep 5,000m Field

While the qualifying window for the USATF Outdoor Track and Field Championships starts to close, the women’s 5,000m at Adrian Martinez provides a great opportunity for distance talent to get in a fast race before the end of the month.

Leading the charge is Olympian Desi Linden, who enters off her fourth place finish at the Boston Marathon. While it’s unknown just how sharp Linden is, she’s ready to attack the track season and owns the fastest 5,000m best in the field.

She’ll compete against a variety of competition, including former NCAA champion Abbey D’Agostino, who’s off to a slower start this season, but popped a 4:13 1,500m performance last month, leaving her only two seconds off her PR in the event. She’ll look to improve upon her 15:42 effort over the 5k distance earlier this year.

Rachel Ward and Rachel Cliff (Canada) are also entered. Cliff comes off a fine eighth place performance over 5,000m at the Payton Jordan Invitational, while Ward looks to regain the form which put her in the top five over 10,000m at the USATF Outdoor Track and Field Championships last year.

Rounding out the field, Amy Van Alstine looks to challenge her 15:22.98 personal best, Linden’s teammate Megan Goethals seems poised for a breakout race, while Elaina Balouris, Liz Costello and Kristin Swisher should all challenge for top five finishes.

Merber Looks to Build Momentum in 800m

While the Nike Prefontaine Classic dominated the headlines last weekend, and rightfully so, Kyle Merber came up big on the opposite coast, crushing the field at the Furman 1,500m, running the second fastest time in the world this year with a 3:34.53 personal best effort. For Merber, who entered last week’s competition riding a wave of momentum from a victorious team effort at the IAAF World Relays, now tests his fitness over the two-lap race and looks to improve his 1:47.23 best.

While Merber enters with a tremendous amount of buzz, the trio of Tyler Mulder, Mike Rutt and Ryan Martin all own significantly faster personal bests and look to make statements before heading to Eugene later in the month.

For Mulder, his 1:44.34 effort two years ago is the fastest PR in the field. He’s struggled with injury, but a healthy Mulder means the United States 800m depth is that much stronger. Same goes for Ryan Martin, who’s having a solid spring and should have his 1:44.77 best in sight.

HOKA ONE ONE athlete Mike Rutt continues to progress, as well. His PR of 1:45.08 seems poised to go down sooner rather than later. He’ll challenge for the win.

Other notable contenders are international athletes Declan Murray (Ireland) and Aaron Evans (Bermuda).

Mile Showdowns

The men’s mile is similarly stacked with talent. USATF Indoor 1,000m champion Robby Andrews enters as the pre-race favorite. Andrews is having a big 2015 season and while his mile best may not be beat, he’s more than capable of coming out of Adrian Martinez with a big win and momentum heading into the bigger meets this summer.

Andrews finds plenty of challengers, including NJNY Track Club teammates Ford Palmer and Travis Mahoney. The two veterans have tremendous race instinct and Palmer comes off a big indoor campaign, where he rocked a 3:56.79 mile effort.

Simply on personal bests, Lee Emanuel (Great Britain) enters as the favorite. He’s run sub-3:55 for the mile both indoors and outdoors. He earned silver over 3,000m at the European Indoor Championships and is as consistent as they get over the mile distance.

Similar veterans Eric Avila and Craig Miller have both run sub-3:57 for the mile and could well challenge for the victory.

On the women’s side, Rachel Schneider is your women’s pre-race favorite. She ran a tremendous 4:08.46 effort in Ponce (Puerto Rico) last month and continues to build on an already successful season, including a third place effort in the mile at the USATF Indoor Championships.

In that same race indoors in Boston, Heather Wilson and Dana Mecke placed fifth and sixth respectively. Both have showed spurts of being able to contender for top three finishes in races similar to Thursday’s battle.

Arguably considered the co-favorite of Thursday’s women’s mile, Nicole Tully seeks another opportunity to defy expectations in 2015. At the Payton Jordan Invitational, she shocked the U.S. distance running community by running 15:05.58 for 5,000m. She followed that up with a 4:09.10 effort at the HOKA ONE ONE Middle Distance Classic, setting her up nicely for Adrian Martinez.

Brooks Beast Amanda Mergaert and 2013 World Championship Team USA member Cory McGee are also entered and should challenge for top five finishes.

Rounding Out the Fields

The women’s 800m finds a field of 11 athletes with sub-2:04 two-lap personal bests. Kendra Chambers enters having run 2:01.93 already this season. She placed fourth at the USATF Indoor Championships over 600 meters, while coming off a ninth place finish at the Nike Prefontaine Classic last weekend.

McKayla Fricker must be watched coming off a sixth place effort in the 800m in the same race as Chambers last weekend at the Pre Classic. She set a new personal best of 2:01.64 and seemingly sets new personal bests each time she steps foot on the track.

Stephanie Charnigo, Bethany Praska and Violah Lagat (Kenya) are other key contenders. Praska ran to a fifth place showing over 600m at the USATF Indoor Championships, while Charnigo placed sixth in the 1,000m event.

In the men’s 5,000m, 24-year old Jose Juan Esparza (Mexico) enters with the best seasonal best and personal best. Earlier this season, Esparza placed second in the 5,000m at the Stanford Invitational, narrowly finishing second in 13:30.

Esparza finds challengers from a host of young pro talent, including former University of Wisconsin teammates Reed Connor and Maverick Darling, as well as former Georgetown standout Andrew Springer.



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