“THEY SAY if you’re not first, you’re last, but I guess it works the other way that if you’re not last, you’re first.”
That near-Yogi Berra-ism was the observation of Washington’s Sophie O’Sullivan to reporters after she won the 1500 following last-place finishes in her two previous finals appearances.
Thursday’s semi went to form with the exception of Washington’s Amina Maatoug, who finished 5th in the mile at the NCAA indoors. She finished 8th in the first semi.
In the final O’Sullivan, who ran from the front to win the Big 10 on this track four weeks earlier, tried to go to the front early, but was rebuffed by Virginia Tech’s Lindsey Butler. The Irish Olympian was content to sit behind Butler, as they went through 400 just over 67 seconds.
With just over two laps to go, O’Sullivan went to the front, taking the field through the 800 in 2:21, then started putting pressure on with a gradual buildup of speed.
Northern Arizona’s Maggi Congdon and Oregon’s Klaudia Kazimierska started to work their way to the front entering the penultimate straightaway.
O’Sullivan led at 1200 in 3:24, with Congdon and South Carolina’s Salma Elbadra in 3rd, but down the backstretch there was some shuffling of the deck.
Oregon’s Şilan Ayyıldız and Kazimierska charged to the front, as did Virginia’s Margot Appleton, but O’Sullivan still controlled the front.
Entering the final turn, O’Sullivan — her running form not exactly the most graceful and the back kick of her legs roughly the lowest ever observed in an elite middle distance runner — really turned on the jets and gapped her pursuers.
No one topped O’Sullivan’s last lap of 58.42, as she crossed the line victorious in 4:07.94.
Appleton tried, just getting under 59 seconds on the last lap to finish 2nd in 4:08.99, followed by Congdon in 3rd at 4:09.31, with Ayyıldız 4th in 4:09.75.
“I really thought that someone was going to close on me, [and] I was running a bit scared,” O’Sullivan said. “I felt like I just [had to] hold my position in the inside lane and not let everyone box me out and then have to find a way out, because I do that sometimes, and I can always find a way out, but it’s a bit messy and people don’t love it.”
While O’Sullivan’s teammate Chloe Foerster finished 8th in 4:11.03, that point came into play later in the meet for Washington’s first visit in team history to the podium and its 4th-place team finish.
O’Sullivan’s win in the event was the first by a Husky since Katie Flood took the ’12 crown.
O’Sullivan, with Nathan Green winning the men’s 1500 Friday, helped make Washington the second school to sweep the event in the same meet. Oregon did it in ’84 with Joaquim Cruz and Claudette Groenendaal.
The victory also made O’Sullivan the fifth Irishwoman to win a Div. I individual outdoor track title, joining mother Sonia (3000), Rhasidat Adeleke (400), Mary Cullen (5000) and Valerie McGovern (5000).
WOMEN’S 1500 RESULTS
FINAL (June 14)
1. Sophie O’Sullivan’ (Wa-Ire) 4:07.94 (58.42, 2:04.50, 3:18.41);
2. Margot Appleton (Va) 4:08.99 (58.97, 2:04.89, 3:18.74);
3. Maggi Congdon (NnAz) 4:09.31 (59.74, 2:05.84, 3:19.25);
4. *Şilan Ayyıldız’ (Or-Tur) 4:09.75 (60.00, 2:06.10, 3:20.16);
5. Klaudia Kazimierska’ (Or-Pol) 4:10.42 (60.46, 2:06.68, 3:20.63);
6. Kimberley May’ (Prov-NZ) 4:10.79 (60.64, 2:06.76, 3:20.87);
7. Lindsey Butler (VaT) 4:10.79 (60.35, 2:07.03, 3:21.46);
8. *Chloe Foerster (Wa) 4:11.03 (60.03, 2:06.87, 3:21.01);
9. Mena Scatchard’ (Prin-GB) 4:11.04 (60.85, 2:06.82, 3:20.87);
10. **Salma Elbadra’ (SC-Mor) 4:11.20 (61.47, 2:07.59, 3:21.34);
11. *Vera Sjöberg’ (BU-Swe) 4:12.52 (62.75, 2:08.73, 3:22.83);
12. Mia Barnett (Or) 4:13.43 (63.01, 2:09.51, 3:23.72).
SEMIS (June 12)
I–1. Congdon 4:11.04; 2. Appleton 4:11.64; 3. Ayyıldız’ 4:11.65; 4. Elbadra’ 4:11.67; 5. May’ 4:12.07; 6. *Riley Chamberlain (BYU) 4:12.28; 7. *Carlee Hansen (BYU) 4:12.35; 8. Amina Maatoug’ (Wa-Neth) 4:12.71; 9. **Bahiya El Arfaoui’ (EnKy-Mor) 4:12.87; 10. Taryn Parks (NC) 4:15.19; 11. ***Allie Zealand (Lib) 4:15.88; 12. **Berlyn Schutz (Nb) 4:16.15.
II–1. O’Sullivan’ 4:09.39; 2. Barnett 4:09.61; 3. Kazimierska’ 4:09.94; 4. Butler 4:10.16; 5. Scatchard’ 4:10.23; 6. Sjöberg’ 4:10.59; 7. Foerster 4:10.62; 8. **Silvia Jelelgo’ (Clem-Ken) 4:11.66; 9. ***Judy Rono’ (NM-Ken) 4:13.35; 10. *Charlotte Tomkinson (Gtn) 4:14.03; 11. Shannon Flockhart’ (Prov-GB) 4:14.77; 12. *Kaiya Robertson (Boise) 4:15.31.
