ATLANTA -- January 30, 2017 -- Atlanta Track Club came home from Boston with five new personal bests, an American record and two tickets to the USA Track & Field National Championships. Middle distance runners Megan Malasarte and Brigitte Mania kicked off the weekend of racing Friday night at Boston University’s Terrier Classic. The teammates finished first and second in the 1,000m. Malasarte’s time of 2:45.51 is just shy of the qualifying standard for the National Championships (2:44.0). Malasarte, who holds the University of Georgia’s indoor and outdoor records in the 800m joined Atlanta Track Club in December. Mania’s time of 2:47.41 is a new personal best although she was hoping for a different result. “Sometimes progress is all you can ask for even though you wanted faster times,” Mania said. “Time to get back to working hard the next couple of weeks.”Both Malasarte and Mania were back on the track hours later for the 5K. The pair helped pace teammate Bridget Lyons to 16:01.54, a 16-second personal best and 1.54 seconds off the national qualifying standard (16:00.00).
Malasarte, Lyons and Mania after the 5KSonja Friend-Uhl set a new W45 American Record in the 3,000m. Her time of 9:53.04 shattered the previous record of 10:02.55 set by Joan Benoit Samuelson in 2003. “I remember watching Joanie on TV winning the Olympic marathon in 1984 in LA,” Friend-Uhl told Masterstrack.com. I had raced in the coliseum earlier that summer for the ARCO Jesse Owens Games. I ran the 400 in 64 seconds as a 12-year-old in that meet. She was a significant running idol to me and still is for all she has contributed to our sport,” Friend-Uhl said.
Friend-Uhl in the 3,000mOn Saturday at the Terrier Classic, Brandon Lasater and Patrick Peterson punched their ticket to the national championships with their performances in the 1,000m. Lasater set a new personal best with a time of 2:22.20, placing second behind Olympian Robby Andrews. “I am happy to get the qualifier out the way,” said Lasater about his first trip to Indoor nationals. “Now I can focus on training and racing instead of getting a time,” he said. Peterson, who recently joined Atlanta Track Club from Big Bear Track Club was third in 2:22.58. Peterson will be heading to Albuquerque after making it to the 800m finals at last year’s national championships in Portland. “I am loving being part of Atlanta Track Club,” Peterson said after his race. “I am excited to represent the club in Albuquerque,” he said.
Peterson and Lasater after qualifying for the USATF Indoor National ChampionshipsThe USATF Indoor National Championships will be held March 3-5 at the Albuquerque Convention Center in Albuquerque, New Mexico.Also in Boston this weekend, Rob Mullett put on the Atlanta Track Club uniform for the first time at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix. Mullett, who represented Great Britain in the steeplechase at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio set a new personal best in the 3,000m with a time of 7:54.48. “I’m reasonably happy with it,” Mullett said about his race against a stacked field that included Paul Chelimo and Hagos Gebrhiwet who won silver and bronze respectively in the 5,000m in Rio. “It’s exciting to move down here and get a PR in the first race,” he said.