Weekend Update – US XC Champs, Boston, …

Boulder – US XC Championships:

Chris Derrick ran away from the field late to take the men’s race for the 3rd consecutive time. At the 5k mark, Chris moved to the lead, with rivals Dathan Ritzenhein and Ben True hanging on his shoulder. Chris ran by himself for the entire second half of the race. The defending national champion looked smooth and at ease leading and with still over two miles to go, it was clear Derrick was on his game. Derrick crossed the finish line in 36:18min, winning his third straight US Cross Country title.

Behind Derrick, Dathan Ritzenhein finished 3rd in 36:51min.

In the women’s race, Jen Rhines finished in third place and automatically qualified to compete for Team USA at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships, which take place March 28 in Guiyang, China.

Boston – NB Indoor GP:

Akeem Haynes from Canada ran 6.56sec to finish 5th in his first big meet ever.

Meeting Mondeville:

Sean Safo-Antwi clocked 6.65sec for third place in the 60m, behind world leader Kim Collins of St Kitts and Nevis (6.58) and Antigua’s Daniel Bailey (6.63). Sean won his heat in 6.66sec.

Albuquerque – New Mexico Classic:

Commonwealth pole vault champion Steve Lewis improved his SB with a winning vault of 5.71m.

Canberra – Track Classic:

The men’s 800m was won by Australian record holder Alex Rowe in yet another World Championship qualifying mark. Alex ran 1:45.38min, a new World Lead as well, to comfortably better the required standard of 1:46.00.