Lewiston’s Isaiah Harris came up just short in his bid to win the men’s 800-meter national title at the USA Track and Field Outdoor Championships on Sunday, as he finished second in the event for the second straight year.
Harris, making his professional debut for Nike and the Tennessee-based Flynn Sports, was timed in 1 minute, 47.11 seconds during the race held at Drake Stadium in Des Moines, Iowa. Clayton Murphy, the 2016 Olympic bronze medalist in the event, won in 1:46.50.
The 21-year-old Harris, who recently concluded his junior year at Penn State University by winning the NCAA Division I championship at 800 meters, was fourth at the midpoint of the USATF final — a tactical race in which Murphy led after the first lap in 54.5 seconds.
Murphy maintained the lead through the backstretch of the final lap before Harris, being pressured from behind by veteran Erik Sowinski, surged forward and took the lead briefly as the duo raced around the far corner of the track some 200 meters from the finish.
But Murphy, a 3:53 miler, had the endurace to hold off the sprinting Harris and surged back to the front before reaching the finish line with a 51.97-second final lap.
“The race plan was to get in front and not let anyone get by me,” the 23-year-old Murphy said in a postrace interview on NBC television. “Once I felt it was slow I knew it was going to be a hard final 200, but that’s what I had committed to for the last 24 hours so I just kept fighting and fighting and fighting.
“Isaiah’s got a heck of a kick. He’s super strong and that’s someone we’ve got to watch in the years to come.”
Bangor High School graduate Riley Masters, a former All-American at the University of Maine and Oklahoma who now runs for Nike, was supposed to compete late Sunday afternoon in the men’s 5,000-meter final, but the competition was under suspension at the scheduled race time due to weather conditions.
Just before the delay Masters’ fiancee, Sara Sutherland, placed eighth in the women’s 5,000 in 15:45.91.
Also competing during the final day of the USATF championships was Sanford native Rachel Schneider, who finished second finish in the women’s 5,000.
The 27-year-old Schneider, who went to high school in Dover, New Hampshire, before going on to run at Georgetown University, had placed fourth a day earlier in the 1,500-meter final. She looked to have considerable energy left as she was in third place entering the final lap of the 5,000 and moved into second behind race favorite Shelby Houlihan.
Houlihan used a strong finishing kick to regain control over the final 200 meters to win the race in 15:31.03 and complete a rare double after also capturing the 1,500 (4:05.48) on Saturday.
Schneider was timed in 15:32.71 for the 5,000 after a 4:08.33 clocking in Saturday’s 1,500.
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