Three meet records go down in Concord on Thursday evening

Catch all the excitement of the 2017 Adrian Martinez Classic available on demand, including interviews here. Results can be found here. 

Clear skies and near perfect temperatures meant fast times were all but guaranteed to happen Thursday evening in Concord, Massachusetts, as the Adrian Martinez Classic brought Olympians, national champions and plenty of other top professional distance runners together. 

Leading off the evening of high performance races, the men's 800m was fast from the start. The rabbit took the leaders through the first 400 meters in 51.2 seconds, stringing out the field. Oregon Track Club Elite's Harun Abda took over once the rabbit dropped off and maintained the lead until there were 150 meters to go. At that point Edose Ibadin and Ryan Martin jumped to the lead, and as the two battled down the homestretch, it was clear one of the two was going to win.In the end, Martin edged ahead ever so slightly to grab an important win, 1:46.03-1:46.18 over Ibadin. Olympian Charles Jock was fourth.

Next up, the women's 800m provided plenty of theatrics, as a trio of HOKA ONE ONE NJNY TC shot to the lead once the rabbit dropped off after a smooth first 500 meters. Down the backstretch it looked as though Cecilia Barowski might steal the race, but coming off the final 200m and into the homestretch, it was Ce'ira Brown exploding to the front and pulling away from her teammates, winning in 2:01.10, as Kenyetta Iyevbele and Barowski finished 2-3 in 2:01.68-2:01.81.

Then came the 3000m events. 

In the men's 3000m, a steady early pace strung out the field, as a number of athletes took turns leading. The even pacing meant a furious race to the finish was certain to happen, and that it did with 500 meters to go. As Olympian Kemoy Campbell started to make his move, former Virginia Tech standout Tommy Curtin pressed right up on Campbell's shoulder. The two pulled clear of the field and after going back and forth with the lead, it was Campbell putting two meters on Curtin over the final 100 meters to take home the victory, 7:44.90 to Curtin's 7:45.11. Olympians Luc Bruchet was third in 7:46.89 and Donn Cabral was fourth in 7:47.42.

While Campbell dominated the final lap of the men's race, it was Olympian Marielle Hall running away from the field early on in the women's 3000m. Hall was the only athlete in the field to follow the rabbit, fellow pro Elaina Balouris, as she took the athletes past the mile at an honest pace. Once Balouris dropped, Hall continued to push the pace, as Cally Macumber ran by herself in second, trying her best to keep contact. 

With one lap to go, it was certain Hall would take the victory on the evening. Hall ran poised over the final lap of the race, crossing the finish in 8:55.5, over five seconds ahead of Macumber, who took home second in 9:00.92. Alycia Cridebring placed third in 9:03.11.

Wrapping up the evening, the men's and women's mile events did not disappoint. 

As the men's Adro mile kicked off, the loaded field of talented runners meant any of the entries had a legit shot to pull off the victory. As the runners followed the rabbit through 1000m, it was Olympians Charles Philibert-Thiboutot and David Torrence following closely behind, while Robert Domanic, Kyle Merber and Trevor Dunbar were the next three in line. 

With one lap to go, the five athletes were all in contention, with Philibert-Thiboutot leading the charge. The Canadian continued to press the pace until 200 meters to go with Domanic and Torrence moved out and shot past, each making their own moves to pull away to victory. Ultimately Torrence cleared the field and put a nice gap between he and the rest of the field, leaning across the finish in a new meet record of 3:53.21. Domanic held on gamely over the final few strides to finish in 3:54.73, while Merber and Philibert-Thiboutot took home 3-4 in 3:54.78-3:55.14. In all, ten men ran sub-4 minute miles on the evening. 

Closing out a great night of racing, as the women's Adro mile got underway, Eleanor Fulton sat right behind the rabbit, following her stride for stride, while Stephanie Schappert and Nicole Tully followed closely behind. Through halfway the runners came, already clear that those three were the strongest on the evening. Little changed once the rabbit dropped off, as Fulton took over the pacing duties and continued to grind away. 

With 400 meters to go, Fulton, Tully and Schappert were packed together, all three still looking strong. With 200 meters to go, Fulton continued to lead, with a slight edge over the other two, while Schappert started to strain. Tully pulled past Schappert with 150 meters to go and then ran up just behind Fulton with 100 meters to go. The two battled down the homestretch with fans standing in lane four cheering them on. It looked as though Fulton would hold off Tully, until the final 20 meters, as Tully put in one final burst to win 4:30.22-4:30.34 over Fulton. Schappert finished third in 4:32.89. 

Another great edition of the Adrian Martinez Classic continues to build the profile of this event as one of the premier distance showcases in the country. Meet records, close finishes and plenty of fan-friendly excitement made Thursday evening's festivities one to remember.