Eccleston places fourth in Olympic Trials

By: 
MICKEY ALVARADO

A screenshot from the televised Olympic Trials Woman's 1,500 posted on YouTube shows Amanda Eccleston (right) and Brenda Martinez falling at the finish line.

EUGENE, Ore. — In a nationally televised 2016 US Olympic Track and Field Trials event held in Eugene, Ore., on Sunday, July 10, Tecumseh graduate Amanda (Putt) Eccleston just missed advancing to the Olympic games with a fourth place finish in the 1,500.
 
She needed to place in the top three to advance to the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, but placed fourth with a time of 4:06.19. She was just edged out by Brenda Martinez who clocked in at 4:06.16 to place third.
 
Eccleston placed first in the first heat of the preliminaries with a time of 4:13.82 and was second in the second heat of the semifinals with a faster time of 4:11.28.
 
In the final, Jenny Simpson placed first with a time of 4:04.74 while Shannon Rowbury placed second in 4:05.39.
 
After the race, Eccleston was interviewed by letsrun.com and said she gave it her best effort.
 
“I was just fighting with everything I had at the end,” she said in the interview. “Every time I had a surge, Brenda [Martinez] had another one to match it.”
 
Eccleston lunged forward and fell, as did Martinez, at the finish line to help her cause but the effort was just short of what was needed. “Obviously, I’m really upset not to be going myself, but physically I couldn’t have done anything else,” she said of not advancing to the Olympic games. “I’m thrilled. I’ve never placed so high before but, obviously, fourth is such a devastating place and by point zero three in a fifteen hundred. It’s crazy.”
 
Despite not advancing to the Olympic games, she was excited to run in the trials for the first time. “I ran five-thirteen in high school,” she said. “And I never really imagined I’d ever get to the trials, plus be that close to making the Olympic team.”
 
She noted that she would give it just a few days before getting right back at it again for the rest of the summer.
 
“It’s been by far the best season of my life,” she said. “I’ve had a ton of breakthroughs mentally and physically and I’m twenty-six, not that old, so in four years I definitely hope to be back as one of the favorites.”
 
Click here Olympic Trials 1500  to see the race on YouTube.

 

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