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MONCTON, CANADA -- Making the most of a packed house at the festive Stade Moncton 2010, Jordan Hasay and Emily Sisson ran to lifetime outdoor bests Monday in the opening event of the 13th IAAF World Junior Championships. Hasay, who was third in the NCAA 1500 in June for Oregon, clocked 9:15.78 to take ninth in the first international 3000 of her life, while Missouri high schooler Sisson lowered her PR to 9:16.80 to finish right behind Hasay.
The pair of Americans ran in the middle of the pack over a slowish first 1600, hit in 4:56.40 by the leaders, and as the front runners quickened the tempo a pack of six runners moved away from Hasay despite her 69.2 lap from 1400-1800. While Sisson worked her way forward, Hasay dropped to eighth after a 73.8 circuit, and a 78.2 on the following 400 put her in ninth. Sisson closed quickly, but Hasay's final lap of 73.2 reversed the order from the Junior nationals in Des Moines, where Sisson won by .2 seconds.
Mercy Cherono of Kenya, this year's world junior cross country champion, narrowly defended the WJC 3000 title she won in 2008 with a season-best 8:55.07, the fastest time in the world by a junior in 2010. Emebet Anteneh of Ethiopia and Layes Abdullayeva of Azerbaijan were secondand third, less than three-tenths behind Cherono.
Hasay, who ran 9:12.25 indoors on an oversize track at Seattle in February, said, "I felt good and just tried to stay with the leaders. These are some great athletes, and this was good preparation for running the 1500 later this week. I didn't think it would go out that fast, and when I was running by myself for a while it was kind of tough. This is my first 3000 at this level, so it is good to see what I need to improve on. I have been focusing on the 1500, and this will help shake the jet lag out of my legs. This stadium and crowd was excellent. They have done a great job."
Sisson, who placed 18th at the world junior cross country meet, said, "There was a lot of tripping and bumping and other contact, and I am not really used to it. There were a lot of aggressive runners, and my plan was to hang on to the pack for as long as I could. After running the world cross meet, I was able to regroup and focus on this meet. It was my main goal, to make this team and compete here. I missed the team aspect of high school track this season since I didn't compete for my school, but this worked out really well. I will wait and see how my legs feel before I decide whether or not to run the 5000 later this week."
A full slate of events starts Tuesday at 9 am with the first round of the women's 3000 steeplechase, and finals in the women's shot put and men's 10,000 are scheduled for the evening session.
For more information on the IAAF World Junior Championships, visit www.usatf.org.
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