Sammy Watson and Aaliyah Miller Battle To Olympic Trials 800m Standard
The junior women's 800m final featured several of the top stars from last weekend's Brooks PR, but instead of going out in a sluggish 64-second opening quarter, Rachel Pocratsky of Virginia Tech barrelled through right at 60 seconds with the entire field on her tail.
Sammy Watson, the IAAF World Youth champion and undisputed queen of the 800m, started to inch by the front-running collegiates in the final lap. But with 200m to go, it was fellow preps Aaliyah Miller and Ruby Stauber who gave chase. Miller, a senior from McKinney Boyd, Texas and a Baylor recruit, looked ready to pass her junior counterpart but Watson was able to fend her off through the line as the girls ran 2:02.91 and 2:02.96.
Both marks are under the Olympic Trials qualifying standard of 2:03.0, a mark that Watson has tried to hit all year. She came agonizingly close in May at the Adrian Martinez Classic vs. a field of pros in 2:03.06, but after the race on Saturday evening, the New York native said she will not race in Eugene next weekend.
She has until Sunday to make a final decision and declare.
Miller, who set a two-second PR of 2:04.07 in the qualifying round, said she felt ready to run faster than her prior of PR of 2:06.06 this weekend but had no realistic goals of attaining the Olympic Trials standard. She is not on the USATF entry list.
Stauber, an LSU commit, would run 2:03.43 for third. Pocratsky placed fifth in 2:06.54 just ahead of Bolles High School, Fla. sophomore Caitlin Collier, sixth in 2:06.54.
