2013 Payton Jordan Invitational Results (1500m)
Palo Alto, CA – Competing in the 1500m for the second time in three days, Academy of Art University senior
Jenny Bergren produced yet another program record with a 1st place finish in her section at the Payton Jordan Invitational hosted by Stanford University.
“The plan going into the weekend was to observe that at Outdoor Nationals it was going to be the preliminaries, then a day of rest, then the finals,” associate head coach
Torrey Olson said. “This past weekend would be the same thing with Brutus Hamilton on Friday, a day to rest, and then Payton Jordan today, mirroring the Nationals schedule. Even though Jenny placed third in the mile in Indoors, she is still relatively new to the event and, before this season, she hadn't really focused on that distance so we were trying to get her more used to the faster pace and to recognize that decisions must be made in smaller windows.”
Running against multiple competitors from Wisconsin and Simon Fraser among others, Bergren looked to improve upon her time at
Cal's Brutus Hamilton Invitational from Friday. In Sunday's race, she was in eighth place of 10 after the first 500m and sat in sixth with two thirds of the race complete. As she has done both at
Cross Country Nationals and
Indoor Nationals, Bergren then made her biggest move and wound up taking 1st overall by more than a full second.
“We trained pretty hard this week and she was able to get herself into second at Brutus Hamilton,” Coach Olson said. “That's not quite what I think she can run, but we were happy to get up into second. Today, we thought the race would go out faster, but it ended up being slower. About halfway through, Jenny was pretty far back in the pack, but she was then able to get to within 400m of the leader. Jenny caught up to third in back stretch, was second in final turn, and had a really good kick at the end.”
After crossing the finish line with a mark of 4:31.03, Bergren once again dropped the new program record down further. She bested her previous time of 4:31.43 from Friday and now sits at 17th in NCAA Division II in the 1500m.
“The time wasn't what I believe she is totally capable of, but the way she ran she looked phenomenal,” Coach Olson said. “She got lots of experience running a tactical race which is a huge positive. Now the only thing is to show that she has a qualifier.”
With a little more than three weeks left before the Outdoor National Championships take place in Fort Collins, CO, ART U currently has a pair of meets, the Oxy Invitational and Stanislaus Twilight Qualifier, remaining on its schedule.
