A Reigning World Champion Indoors And Out, Brooks Beast Star Josh Kerr Set To Open With 800 At Hayward Field

By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor

Kim Spir Photos

Josh Kerr has won a world title in the 1,500 meters outdoors at Budapest and added a second in the 3,000 meters indoors in his native Scotland six weeks ago. 

This weekend, his first race of the 2024 outdoor season is set for the Oregon Relays presented by AthleticNET, as the Seattle-based Brooks Beast competes in the 800 meters at 8:53 p.m. PDT Saturday. 

But everything for Kerr is now oriented toward a peak Aug. 6 in Paris, and the men's 1,500-meter final. 

"I'm really becoming the athlete I always wanted to be," Kerr said in the wake of his gold-medal performance in Glasgow, Scotland on March 2. "It's taken a long process to get here, through the UK system and through the NCAA and through the professional scene. Back in 2017 I stepped on it and failed in front of a British crowd. And now, eight-nine years later I'm able to put on a performance like (this)."

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It will be Kerr's first race at Hayward Field since finishing fifth in the 2022 World Athletics Championships 1,500 final in 2022. 

He will be tested in what amounts to a speed session by Brooks Beast teammates Kyle Langford and Brandon Miller, Sam Prakel of adidas, Sam Ellis of On and four members of the Oregon Ducks squad: Elliott Cook, Matt Erickson, Rheinhardt Harrison and James Harding. 

The men's 800 meters is merely the tip of the iceberg for a pro and elite portion of the two-day meet that is the most stacked in its history. 

On Friday, the women's 800 features a homecoming for former Oregon star Raevyn Rogers of Nike's Union AC, bronze medalist from Tokyo. She is due to face Susan Aneno of Peninsula Distance, Brooke Feldmeier of Melbourne TC, Valery Tobias of Brooks Beasts, Maddy Berkson of Battle Road TC and Oregon athletes Klaudia Kazimierska and Ella Nelson. 

Also Friday, the men's Distance Medley Relay holds record possibilities. 

Brooks Beast team of Brannon Kidder, Brandon Miller, Isaiah Harris and Henry Wynne are eligible to go after the American record of 9:15.50, which was set by a U.S. team in 2015.

The DMR All-Stars and Wannabeast are comprised of lineups from a variety of nations. The All-Stars lineup includes Kieran Lumb, Sam Ellis, Sam Prakel and Johnny Gregorek. The Wannabeasts are Mac Franks, Tristan Heinicke, David Timlin and Clayton VanDyke.

The women's 1,500 meters will precede the men's 800 on Saturday night. 

Karissa Schweizer of the Bowerman TC will race Oregon standouts Maddy Elmore and Silan Ayyildiz, ranked second and third on the NCAA 5,000 list, will race in a field that includes Oklahoma State's Billah Jepkirui and Gabija Galvydyte, Julia Heymach, Allie Buchalski and Kayley Delay of Brooks Beasts, and Bowerman Track Club newcomer Kaylee Mitchell, formerly of Oregon State. Kazimierska and Mia Barnett of Oregon are also in the mix. 

The fifth and final pro event ($5,000 prize money is on the line for each one) is the men's Sub Four Mile Challenge.

Moh Ahmed, Duncan Hamilton, Thomas Ratcliffe and Kieran Tuntivate of the Bowerman Track Club will be part of a field that also includes Brooks Beasts' Kidder, Dillon Maggard and Isaiah Harris. Jackson Mestler of the Oregon Track Club, David Ribich of Union Athletics, and Lumb, of On, are among the standouts in the field. 

Additionally, high school junior Josiah Tostenson of Crater OR will chase a sub-four time in the mile in the fast field. Tostenson ran 8:39.89 for 3,200 meters at the Arcadia Invitational two weeks ago and ran a 4:03.38 indoor mile Feb. 10 at Dempsey Indoor in Seattle. 

Tostenson will aim to become the first sub-four high school miler at Oregon Relays. Aaron Sahlman came close last year, finishing in 4:00.30.