Atlanta Track Club had a great diplay of middle distance consistency in Ponce, Puerto Rico on May 12, 2022. The Elites attended the Puerto Rico Athletics Classic in Ponce, Puerto Rico, that was hosted by the American Track League. This meet was apart of the World Athletics Continental Tour Silver meet. The Puerto Rico Athletics Classic had a strong lineup that included six Tokyo Olympic champions and gathered participants from 21 nations. Atlanta Track Club had three elite men in the 800m and three elite women in the 1500m.
After two sub-1:50 performances from Daniel Nixon and Shane Streich last week, the men’s 800m went out at a hot first lap of 49 seconds led by two pacers from Puerto Rico. Nixon chose to lay off the early hot pace and was in last place until the final 100m, surging late to be the team’s top finisher (6th) with a 1:48.01. In his season opener, Abe Alvarado finished 7th with a 1:48:21. In his second 800m this season, Streich finished 8th with a 1:48.86. All three marks were seasons bests by Nixon, Alvarado, and Streich.
Looking to build off a strong showing from California last week, the women did just that by finishing 2-3-4 in the 1500m. Sadi Henderson took the lead with 300 meters to go and pushed hard down the backstretch to build separation. Allie Wilson made a strong surge the last 200 meters to move into 2nd place in the final30 meters resulting in a finishing time of 4:06.37. Henderson finished 3rd with a 3 second personal best of 4:07.10. Yolanda Ngarambe went with the pacers early and finished 4th with a season's best of 4:07.23. Notably, Wilson’s time was an 8 second personal best. All three marks were seasons best for our women.
On May 14, 2022, marathoner Joanna Stephens competed in the USATF 25km Road Championships presented by Toyota. The weather was on her side, on a fair coolmorning, she finished 10th in 1:32:46. The race was won by Aliphine Tuliamuk who also won the 2020 Olympic Trials - Marathon held in Atlanta. In just under 14 days, Stephens has had two top-10 USATF finishes. In the previous week, she finished 6th with 1:16:04 in the USATF Half Marathon Champs.
NEXT UP:
May 18, 2022 Emory Final Qualifier
May 20, 2022 TrackNight NYC at Icahn Stadium.
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