By John Bigouette
The Boston Athletic Association was well represented in Oregon at the Portland Track Festival Sunday night at Lewis & Clark College. The track festival included a mix of open, master’s and community events in a two-day event with the main attraction of Hi-Performance sections taking place on Sunday evening.
Steven Mangan was 10 in his heat (20th overall) in the 1500 meters with a time of 3:41.69. Steven was chasing the qualifying standard for USA’s (3:39.00) taking place in Eugene, Oregon at the end of the month. Although Steve missed the mark, there’s still a shot he sneaks in to fill the field. Steven is looking to shift towards road races this summer in the New England area with a schedule yet to be set.
Evan Jager of the Nike Bowerman Track Club was the overall event winner in 3:32.97. Other runners with New England ties in the field: Dan Huling (3:38.24) and Riley Masters (3:39.32).
In the women’s 1500, Lauren Johnson of Nike’s OTC Elite took the crown and the craft beer with a time of 4:07.33 over Sasha Gollish of Toronto (4:07.47) and Shannon Rowbury of the Nike Oregon project (4:07.52). The BAA’s own Emily Lipari was 12th in that same heat (26th overall) in 4:24.34. The women’s standard for USA’s in the 1500 is set at 4:09.50.
Finally, Dan Lowry was looking to hit the 5000-meter qualifying mark for USA’s (13:32) in the first heat of the high performance section. Dan was hoping to lower his personal best of the season from 13:38. At the meet, Dan was 18th in the fast heat (27th overall) with a time of 14:23.26. Cam Levins of the Nike Oregon Project took first in the Hi-Performance section of the 5000 men’s race in a time of 13:20.68.
The qualifying window for the 2015 USA Track & Field Championships ended on June 14, 2015. Official entry lists will be available later this week. The meet will take place at the historic Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon from June 25-28.