The senior finished second and .4 behind what I'm assuming to be a familiar foe (Katie Follett of Washington). Amazingly, Pixler's time is the second-fastest ever by a D2 runner. Only Tina Colebrook (Cal Poly-SLO) ran faster in 1990. (Her 4:07 was recorded in Cologne.) So that makes Pixler the fastest D2er ever on American soil. Wow!
So now that we know the winner in Charlotte (?!), what did Mt. SAC inform us about the second-best?
Seattle Pacific's Jane Larson was fourth out of 86 (!) finishers in the 1,500, but ran 3 seconds slower than at Stanford (4:26).
While D2 men made their presence felt in the steeple, it was more muted in the 800 and 1,500.
Drew Graham of Adams State ran a 3:43.7. Michael Wickman (Chico State) finished two places back in fourth and 3:44. (Graham isn't on the D2 performance list yet, perhaps to a results mixup, but Andrew Graham of Utah Valley runs the 110 highs and 400 hurdles.) Otherwise, Adams State's Drew Soucy was the only D2er under 3:50.
One D2er managed to dip under the auto standard of 1:50, as Anthony Luna (Metro State) was last in the fast 800 on Saturday, but ran a nice 1:49.1. Surprise indoor champ Denise Mokaya (Mankato State) registered a 1:51 in one of the zillion heats earlier in the meet.
On the women's side, Chanelle Caldwell (Grand Valley State) ran a 2:07 -- well under the auto standard. She might be Pixler's biggest challenge in Charlotte.
On the women's side, Chanelle Caldwell (Grand Valley State) ran a 2:07 -- well under the auto standard. She might be Pixler's biggest challenge in Charlotte.
Look again in Wickman's heat. He was beaten by Drew Graham. While it lists him as from Utah Valley, I watched the race and it was the Drew Graham from Adams State. He was wearing an Adams State jersey. I don't know why it has him listed as Utah Valley, but if you have any doubt just watch the video on flotrack.
ReplyDeleteI watched the video-yes it was Graham 3.43.7. That was in the top 5 1500m fastest times of the whole meet (while running in the 2nd heat) He was only one second slower than the winner of the invitational- a little more impressive than Larson who was 4th out of females running the 1500m but was 80 meters behind the leaders.
ReplyDeletegood catch. i should've recognized that name. i knew i'd miss someone. thanks!
ReplyDeletei wonder if the mixup is because there is an andrew graham from provo, who runs hurdles
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