Waskom Takes Silver At USA Championships

Saturday, July 8

Eugene, OR

All Day

University of Washington

USATF Outdoor Championships

July 08, 2023 | Track & Field

USATF Championships Live Results

By: UW Athletic Communications

EUGENE, Ore. – Joe Waskom continued to add to his reputation as one of America's best mid-distance runners today as the 2022 NCAA Champion and 2023 NCAA runner-up took the 1,500-meters silver at the USATF Outdoor Championships today, as he was just edged out for the win by American Record-holder Yared Nuguse. Waskom, a rising senior for the Dawgs, lowered his own School Record in the distance in a thrilling final.

Also in the final was teammate Nathan Green, who won the 2023 NCAA Outdoor title just a month ago, just ahead of Waskom. Green ran a career-best for the second time in three days, placing seventh in his first U.S. final in 3:36.29. Husky volunteer coach Sam Prakel was also fourth in 3:35.83.

Waskom took the lead with 250-meters to go on the final lap, and held it around the final turn, until Nuguse came back to retake the lead with about 80 meters to go. Waskom kept pushing and held on to second-place in a new lifetime-best of 3:35.32.

Joe went for the win and only the American Record-holder kept him from a ???? National Championship!

Nathan Green closing well for 7th in another PR of 3:36.29. The two fastest 1,500-meter runs in UW history right there...#GoHuskies x #USATFOutdoors https://t.co/Ql21Z1AGWl
— Washington Track & Field (@UWTrack) July 9, 2023

The reward for a top three finish would be a spot on Team USA for the 2023 World Track & Field Championships, but Waskom will need to run the World Championships standard before his runner-up finish will convert into a trip to Worlds. The standard is 3:34.20, just over a second faster than what Waskom ran today. The qualification window goes until July 30. A scenario of qualifying via World Ranking based on the World Athletics formula also exists.

After the race, Waskom was interviewed live by Lewis Johnson and said, "With 250 (meters) to go that's usually the spot I like to go from. I thought just don't look back. I saw Yared come on the home stretch and I was like just go with him. Just go to the line, I think I can still be top-three."

In the women's 1,500-meter final, recent grad Anna Gibson, in her first meet racing for Brooks, dropped two seconds off her PR and ran 4:09.58 to place 10th overall.

Kayley DeLay, now racing for the Brooks Beasts, was 12th overall in the steeplechase final in a season-best time of 9:43.06.

Recent grad Cass Elliott came up just one spot shy of making his first USA final in the 400-meter hurdles, as he was ninth overall in 49.44. The last qualifying time was 49.30.

Rising senior Chandler Ault had the best series of his 2023 season in the men's javelin today. Ault opened with what was a season-best of 236-0, and made the eight-man final in sixth-place. He improved to 237-1, and had two more throws of 236-6 and 236-2 in a remarkably consistent series. Ault wound up seventh overall.

Sunday, the Championships will wrap up with UW competitors in the pole vault (Nastassja Campbell, Olivia Gruver, incoming freshman Hana Moll), and Prakel is entered in the 5k.