The 1500m Olympic gold medalist won her national crown in New York.
Cole Hawker once again capitalized on brilliant timing to win the USATF 3000m indoor title in 7:39.25 in a close race with Jared Nuguse (7:39.28) and Nico Young (7:39.29).
Hawker led the first mile at Staten Island’s Ocean Breeze Athletic Complex in a slow 4:15, but the race heated up when Matt Wilkinson hit the front. The race really got serious when Nuguse took the lead with 500 meters to go and Hawker sat in third.
Young then made a big move with 300m to go. Hawker was still third at this stage.
But on the final bend, Hawker got past Nugus for second, then raced past Young on the home straight.
However, Hawker was made to work hard as Nuguse finished strongly on the inside, finishing just three-hundredths of a second behind Young by a further one-hundredth.
Hawker and Nuguz earned two automatic qualifiers for the March 20-22 World Indoor Championships in Poland.
Results: here.
