EUGENE, OREGON, May 27 — The Friday-evening session of the Pre Classic will kick off with a pair of USATF Championships 10,000s which will choose Team USA for this summer’s World Championships.
Our resident forecasters, Jack Pfeifer (women) and Dave Johnson (men), have come up with their Top 10s for each event. Here’s the way they see it:
WOMEN’S 10,000 METERS (7:30)
With last year’s Trials winner, Emily Sisson, focusing on the roads, there will be a new 10K champion this year…
Our original favorite, off her world-leading 30:14.66 in March — less than 2 seconds off the AR — was Elise Cranny, a 26-year-old Stanford alum who was 13th in the Olympics last summer. But the day before the meet she announced her withdrawal…
With Cranny out, the powerhouse field includes Tokyo Olympians Karissa Schweizer (30:47.99 behind Cranny in March) and Alicia Monson (31:10.84 PR)…
Eritrean emigrée Weini Kelati (31:10.08) was the ’19 NCAA winner for New Mexico… Veteran Marielle Hall got her PR of 31:05.71 as the top U.S. finisher at the ’19 Worlds…
Missing for health reasons are Rachel Schneider and Millie Paladino…
The Top 10 (all of whom have the 31:25.00 Worlds Q-standard). The numbers in the right-hand column represent where the athlete finished in our U.S. Rankings last year.
| 1. | Karissa Schweizer | (Nike Bowerman TC) | 2 |
| 2. | Weini Kelati | (Under Armour) | nr |
| 3. | Alicia Monson | (On AC) | 3 |
| 4. | Natosha Rogers | (Hansons–Brooks) | 7 |
| 5. | Emily Infeld | (Nike Bowerman TC) | 8 |
| 6. | Emily Lipari | (adidas) | nr |
| 7. | Sarah Lancaster | (unattached) | 9 |
| 8. | Ednah Kurgat | (US Army) | nr |
| 9. | Paige Stoner | (Reebok/Boston) | nr |
| 10. | Marielle Hall | (Nike) | nr |
MEN’S 10,000 METERS (8:15)
Who’s training well? Who’s hurt? Who knows? With few relevant results in recent weeks, it’s difficult to know which of our 10 runners will remain in the lead pack when the racing begins…
The front end is most likely to include last year’s Olympic trio of Grant Fisher, Woody Kincaid and Joe Klecker, with Sean McGorty an added player after moving up in distance…
Fisher lowered the AR to 26:33.84 in March, moving to No. 7 on the all-time world list. OT winner Kincaid has a best of 27:12.78, with Klecker at 27:23.44 and McGorty at 27:18.15…
After this group, any of the next 5 have real shots at making the team, while Samuel Chelanga and Dillon Maggard are lacking the Q-standard of 27:28.00…
The unlisted #11 is 37-year-old vet Lopez Lomong, who won a surprise USA distance double in ’19 but pulled up lame in last year’s OT 10…
Our Top 10:
| 1. | Grant Fisher | (Nike Bowerman TC) | 1 |
| 2. | Woody Kincaid | (Nike Bowerman TC) | 2 |
| 3. | Sean McGorty | (Nike Bowerman TC) | nr |
| 4. | Joe Klecker | (On AC) | 3 |
| 5. | Emmanuel Bor | (unattached) | 8 |
| 6. | Ben True | (ASICS/Northwood Athletics) | 4 |
| 7. | Shadrack Kipchirchir | (American Distance Project) | nr |
| 8. | Conner Mantz | (Nike) | 5 |
| 9. | Samuel Chelanga | (US Army) | 9 |
| 10. | Dillon Maggard | (unattached) | nr |