THIS TIME IT WAS Nathan Green’s turn. Washington’s Pac-12 champion, a 20-year-old soph, proved that timing is everything as he found the perfect opening on the last lap and sprinted to a 3:42.78 win ahead of teammate Joe Waskom, who had won the title last year. Until the final stretch, the two had been accompanied by fellow Husky Luke Houser, the indoor mile champion.
Washington is now at an impressive streak of 3 straight NCAA 1500/mile wins, each with a different athlete.
The early pacework had been handled by North Carolina frosh Ethan Strand, who ushered the tight pack through 400 in 61.5, with teammate Jesse Hunt and Wisconsin’s Adam Spencer very close and Green hugging the rail behind the leader. The Washington trio controlled the middle of the pack. Green signaled that his instincts were sharp when he responded to a Spencer move to the front before 1000, squeezing past Strand on the inside, then deftly threading his way to the outside to run alongside Spencer at the front.
Perfectly positioned before the bell, Green saw that all change as his teammates, along with Villanova’s Liam Murphy and South Carolina’s Anass Essayi, moved quickly to box him in again while the bell still rang. However, second chances do happen sometimes. Green, 5th at the start of the backstretch, found a gap between Waskom and Essayi and shot through to put himself at Spencer’s shoulder with 200 left.
Coming off the turn, he went into full sprint, slowly pulling ahead of Spencer to cross the line a stride ahead, with Waskom finishing fast to edge Spencer, 3:42.93–3:42.98. Houser, 4th at the top of the stretch, faded to 10th behind Oklahoma State’s Fouad Messaoudi, the favored outdoor collegiate leader who finished 9th in 3:44.41.
Green, who had produced a 51.88 final lap, celebrated with his teammates. He said, “We had an opportunity to go 1-2-3, and I wasn’t going to be the one to not let that happen. I didn’t know what was going on once Adam Spencer broke the pack. I was just following Joe. That’s all you really can do.”
Both Green and Waskom said that no team tactics were at play. “If one of us goes, that probably means you should be going with them,” clarified Waskom.
MEN’S 1500 RESULTS
FINAL (June 09)
1. **Nathan Green (Wa) 3:42.78 (51.88, 1:53.40, 2:56.55)
(46.23, 63.15 [1:49.38], 61.52 [2:50.90], 51.88);
2. *Joe Waskom (Wa) 3:42.93 (52.16, 1:53.61, 2:56.85);
3. **Adam Spencer’ (Wi-Aus) 3:42.98 (52.23, 1:53.84, 2:57.19);
4. **Anass Essayi’ (SC-Mor) 3:43.31 (52.42, 1:53.53, 2:56.54);
5. *Isaac Basten (Drake) 3:43.33 (52.14, 1:53.42, 2:56.78);
6. Jesse Hunt’ (NC-Aus) 3:43.40 (52.35, 1:54.22, 2:57.44);
7. *Ezekiel Rop’ (IaSt-Ken) 3:43.59 (52.61, 1:53.49, 2:56.84);
8. *Evan Dorenkamp (PennSt) 3:44.20 (53.20, 1:54.33, 2:57.76);
9. **Fouad Messaoudi’ (OkSt-Mor) 3:44.41 (53.25, 1:54.85, 2:57.89);
10. *Luke Houser (Wa) 3:44.61 (53.75, 1:55.12, 2:58.31);
11. **Liam Murphy (Vill) 3:45.72 (54.95, 1:56.05, 2:59.75);
12. ***Ethan Strand (NC) 3:47.01 (55.66, 1:57.89, 3:01.34).
SEMIS (June 07)
I–1. Waskom 3:39.50; 2. Houser 3:39.72; 3. Rop’ 3:39.77; 4. Murphy 3:39.82; 5. Strand 3:39.83; 6. Dorenkamp 3:40.34; 7. Mael Gouyette (Iona) 3:40.48; 8. ***Colin Sahlman (NnAz) 3:42.02; 9. **Sean Donoghue (Vill) 3:42.89; 10. **Finn Walsh (Pitt) 3:43.45; 11. *Garrett Macquiddy (Cal) 3:44.77; 12. *Christopher Middleton-Pearson (OkSt) 3:47.76.
II–1. Essayi’ 3:39.52; 2. Spencer’ 3:39.53; 3. Green 3:39.69; 4. Basten 3:39.72; 5. Messaoudi’ 3:39.74; 6. Hunt’ 3:39.80; 7. John Petruno (MiSt) 3:40.36; 8. Cathal Doyle’ (Port-Ire) 3:40.64; 9. *Matthew Payamps (Gtn) 3:40.96; 10. Nick Foster (Mi) 3:46.78; 11. Gavin Gaynor (NCSt) 3:47.92; 12. **Alex Stitt’ (OkSt-Aus) 3:51.88.
