Hasay Soars to new Record

Taking advantage of US Track & Field relenting on their plan to fly Jordan Hasay from Portland to the World Junior Meet in Poland, where she would race for the United States, Jordan flew to an American record in the 1,500 meters. And this was a far different day from the quarterfinals earlier when the older runners were content to let her shoulder the pace! On Friday July 4 the favorites went out and actually raced and Jordan was relieved of the burden of leading. Jordan noted that she "had gotten a little excited" in the first heat & the plan today was to stay relaxed. She remained well back in the pack running splits of 69 and 2:20~ and then made her move in the final 400 meters.

She had been only 8th, as the bell rang, & she quickly moved into seventh place. After coming off the turn with 300 meters to go she picked off another runner and the fans were well aware of the effort noting "That’s a high school girl", as if I did not know. She moved ahead of Frances Koons of Villanova and the crowd roared as she raced through the final turn and then caught Keri Bland of West Virginia. There would be fireworks later in the evening but the noise was deafening as the crowd was responding as Jordan provided her own and punctuating the evening’s events.

Hasay . picked off Jenelle Deatherage in the stretch to place fifth in the heat with an American record time of 4:14.50. Although noting the record had been in the back of her mind during the race and realized that it was within reach when she heard a 3:22 at 1200. She had originally come here with the intention of breaking the record that had only recently been set by fellow Californian Christine Babcock who had run 4:16.42. Babcock ran a fine 4:20 this evening but could not stay with Hasay. Lindsey Gallo placed ahead of Christin Wurth & Amy Mortimer, who like Jordan, also qualified for the finals. But the night belonged to the tiny Californian, who smiled as she glided through the last lap in American record time.

Hats off to those who realized that this was a "once in a lifetime opportunity" for her and changed her travel itinerary to allow this run. She had planned on an attack on the record and mission accomplished, yet now she has reached a zone "beyond her dreams" in qualifying for the Olympic Trials Final. After the race she posed by the timer on the track that had her newly established record listed on it and the ever partial fans yelled "Go to Oregon." We’ll save those things for another day content in knowing we’ve seen history & witnessed one fabulous run!