Bailey Roth raced to a US#1 time in winning today's 2000 Steeple at New Balance Nationals Outdoor. Photo by Jeff Sides.
Bailey Roth's summer is turning out to be every bit as busy--and every bit as successful--as his spring was.
Last weekend, it was a winning mile at the High School Distance Challenge in Kansas City. Today, it was a nation-leading (and top ten all-time) winning time of 5:49.24 in the 2000 steeple at New Balance Nationals Outdoor. Better still, Roth did that running in the first heat (which he won by over 20 seconds) with nobody to help push him out to a better time. Roth was relegated to the first (and slower) heat due to a dearth of seed times that might get him into the faster heat. It's hard to say where this might lead if Roth gets another opportunity to steeple this summer.
Chuck Bisbee, Colorado's second (and higher seeded) entry in the steeple, went 6:10.79 for 11th in the event, good enough for a new PR in the event.
Elsewhere, Colorado was well represented at a few other events in today's NBNO action. Dior Hall advanced easily to finals in the 100 hurdles with the second-best time (13.80) out of prelims. Megan McCabe snared fourth in the pole vault at a PR height of 12-6.75. Lindsay Read went to 37-11.25 in the triple jump but was well out of the places. And, Ethan Gonzales ran a solid 9:28.75 in the two mile (about five seconds longer than a 3200) to finish just a little out of the awards at 11th.