Hall dominates, Lara wins at the 2020 USATF 15 km Championships

Update 10/13/20 - Frank Lara is the new 2020 USATF 15km Champion, USATF announced.  

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JACKSONVILLE, Florida – Olympian Marielle Hall stormed away from the women’s field early, while Ridouane Harroufi outkicked the men’s field late, both claiming their first USATF titles Saturday morning at the USATF 15 km Championships in Jacksonville, Florida, hosted by the Gate River Run.
 
The USATF 15 km Championships are the third stop on the 2020 USATF Running Circuit. Race highlights and coverage are available and can be viewed with a +PLUS subscription on USATF.TV. Join the conversation on Twitter with the hashtag #USARC.
 
As the gun sounded under sunny skies and 45 degree temperatures, a lead group quickly established themselves at the front of the race, as a trio of Olympians in Hall, Gwen Jorgensen and Kim Conley led the way, along with Natosha Rogers and Erika Kemp.
 
By the time the leaders passed through mile 2, the pack was down to seven runners, with Paige Stoner and Eden Meyer joining the lead group, with Hannah Everson and a few others in the chase pack.
 
As the runners passed through 5 km, Hall started to put a gap on the rest of the lead pack and by four miles the Bowerman Track Club standout had a 50-meter lead that only continued to grow.
 
Behind Hall, Rogers and Meyer packed it up and worked together along the streets of Jacksonville, with Jorgensen and Kemp in tow.
 
Hall maintained 5:05-5:10 mile pace as she continued to lengthen her lead. By 10 km, Hall was more than 30 seconds up on the rest of the field, as the chase pack started to splinter, with Rogers and Meyer breaking away and running as a two-women pack.
 
With a mile to go, it was clear Hall would be victorious, and as she stormed through the final portion of the race, with the finish line coming into view. Hall crossed the finish, winning by nearly a minute in 48:52, showing she’s in fantastic shape as the 2020 season continues to heat up.
 
Rogers was able to hold off Meyer over the final miles of the race, earning second place overall and continuing her strong 2020 campaign. Rogers finished two second ahead of Atlanta Track Club’s Meyer, 49:50-49:52, with Meyer taking home an impressive third place finish.
 
Hall’s victory is her first USATF Running Circuit title and moves her into fifth place overall with 15 points in the USATF Running Circuit standings. The runner-up finish from Rogers earned her 12 more points in the standings, giving her 27 points overall and puts her solely in second place behind only U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Marathon winner Aliphine Tuliamuk, who sits atop of the standings with 30 points.
 
Jorgensen hung on to edge out Kemp for fourth, crossing the finish in 50:26, while Kemp took home another top five finish in Jacksonville, claiming fifth in 50:27 and earning another fine finish on the USATF Running Circuit.
 
Rounding out the top ten, Everson was able to hold off challengers to finish sixth overall in 50:33, one second ahead of two-time Olympian Conley in seventh place. Stoner took home eighth in 50:36, while Hansons-Brooks teammates Anne-Marie Blaney and Olivia Pratt took home ninth and tenth in 50:55 and 50:56.
 
While Hall pressed the pace in the women’s race early, the men’s race got off to a conservative start. The men hit 4:53 for their first mile and didn’t run much faster their second mile. The pace only started to quicken by mile three, but more than a dozen men remained up front as they passed through the first 5 km of the race.
 
As the lead pack came through mile four in 19:17, Andy Wacker and Jacob Thomson led the charge, while Ben Kendell took over and pushed the group through mile five. The pack remained large up front until the 10 km mark, when a few runners started to push the pace, led by Reid Buchanan and Frank Lara.
 
Buchanan and Lara did much of the work in the following two miles, pushing the pace enough to string out the field, leaving only a half dozen men in contention with less than a mile to go. As the duo passed the mile to go mark, Buchanan started to surge, putting a small gap on Lara. However, the trio of Ridouane Harroufi, Abbabiya Simbassa and Zachery Panning worked together to bridge the gap. Buchanan and Lara continued their drive to the finish, but the others were closing.
 
With just over a half mile to go, Harroufi, Simbassa and Panning caught Buchanan and Lara, as the five men started their charge to the finish. All five remained in contention until 200 meters to go, when Harroufi put in one final surge to edge Lara 44:42-44:43 for the victory.
 
Simbassa held off Panning over the final stretch to place third, as both runners ran 44:$5, while Buchanan faded slightly to fifth in 44:50 after leading much of the back half of the race.
 
Coming in sixth overall, ten seconds behind Buchanan, was Kendell in 45:02, finishing just ahead of Jacob Thomson in seventh, who finished with the same time. Tim Rackers took home eighth overall in 45:03, while Mark Parrish claimed ninth in 45:04. Dhruvil Patel took home tenth place overall in 45:10.
 
Harroufi’s victory earned him 15 points towards the USATF Running Circuit standings, which puts him tied for fourth with USATF Cross Country Championship victor Anthony Rotich. Galen Rupp currently leads the USATF Running Circuit with 30 points, earned from his win at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Marathon last week.
 
The next stop on the USATF Running Circuit is the USATF 1 Mile Road Championships, which take place on April 21 in Des Moines, Iowa, hosted by the Grand Blue Mile.
 
About the USATF Running Circuit
 
The USATF Running Circuit is a USATF road series featuring USATF championships from one mile through the marathon and consistently attracts the best American distance runners with more than $500,000 to be awarded in total prize money. A total of $53,000 in prize money will be awarded at the USATF 15 km Championships
 
The first ten U.S. runners earn points at each USATF Running Circuit race. For the USATF 15 km Championships, scoring is set as 15 for first, 12 for second, 10 for third, 7 ,6, 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1, with those earning the most points receiving prize money at the end of the series.
 
The mission of the USATF Running Circuit is to showcase, support and promote U.S. runners. Since its inception in 1995, the USATF Running Circuit and its races have provided over $7 million to U.S. distance runners.
 
Contributed by Scott Bush