Patrick Casey Finishes 31st at USA National Championships

Photo by: R. Dean Hendrickson

Patrick Casey Finishes 31st at USA National Championships

6/24/2011 9:17:54 AM | Track & Field

Laurel native falls behind, fails to advance to Saturday's final

By: Leslie Masterpaul

Patrick Casey closed out an epic outdoor rookie campaign among some of the best in the world on Friday. Casey finished 31st overall in the 1,500-meter run at the USA Track and Field Championships in Eugene, Ore., held at Hayward Field. (1,500m Preliminary Results)

Casey fell behind early and finished eighth of 12 in the third and final heat of the event. Bernard Lagat of Team Nike won the heat with a time of 3:44.04. Lagat is the current American record holder in the outdoor 1,500m, 3,000m and 5,000m. He also competed at the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing.

Headed into Saturday's final, Andrew Wheating of Oregon TC Elite holds the top seed with a time of 3:39.88.

The Laurel, Mont. native's fastest time clocked in at 3:41.34 back on May 1, at the Payton Jordan Cardinal Invitational in Palo Alto, Calif.

Freshman Trevor Polson will appear in the Junior National Championship portion of the meet when he competes on Saturday, June 25, in the 3000m steeplechase.