Past Champions Headline Field Set to Compete at the USATF 1 Mile Road Championships

USATF Release

DES MOINES, Iowa – Familiar faces and rising stars make their way back to the downtown streets of Des Moines on April 23 to race in the USATF 1 Mile Road Championships, hosted as part of the Grand Blue Mile presented by Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield.

The USATF 1 Mile Road Championships are the fifth stop on the 2024 USATF Running Circuit. The webcast for Tuesday’s race will be streamed live on USATF.TV beginning at 6:00pm CT, with the women’s race beginning at 7:15 pm CT, followed by the men’s race at 7:30 pm CT. 

The women’s field features a collection of star-studded talent, highlighted by USATF Indoor 800m champion Allie Wilson and Olympian Rachel Smith.

Wilson, representing Nike and the Heartland Track Club, comes off of a career-best indoor season in which her U.S. indoor title in the 800 led her to qualify for the World Athletics Indoor Championships team in Glasgow, Scotland, where she finished fourth in her heat of the first round.

Wilson last raced the USATF 1 Mile Road Championships in 2022, when she finished fourth overall in 4:37.0.

Smith will be competing in her third USATF Running Circuit race of the 2024 year and her first USATF 1 Mile Road Championships since 2021, when she won in 4:30.3. 

Smith, who competed in the 5,000 at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, won the USATF 15km Championship race back on March 2 in Jacksonville. in 48:26. A month later finished fourth at the USATF 10 Mile Road Championship in 51:40 in Washington, D.C.

Emma Grace Hurley of Heartland Track Club enters the championship field after having competed at the World Cross Country Championship in Belgrade, Serbia on March 30.

The former Furman standout finished 35th overall for the United States at Worlds after qualifying from the USATF Cross Country Championships on January 20 in Richmond, VA, where she finished second overall.

Annie Frisbie of PUMA and Minnesota Distance Elite is slated to race in her fourth USATF Running Circuit competition. Frisbie finished fourth in 15 km Road Championship, fourth in the 10 Mile Road Championships and 10th at the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials.

Alexina Teubel and Emilee Trost are among top returning competitors from last year’s USATF 1 Mile Road Championships. Teubel finished sixth overall in 4:32.09, with Trost behind in 19th in 4:49.53.

Also joining the field are former NCAA champions Anna Camp-Bennett (BYU) of Adidas, Cailee Peterson of Minnesota Distance Elite, Savannah Shaw (NC State) of Tinman Elite, and Melissa Tanaka of Oiselle.

Angelina Ellis of Under Armour Mission Run Dark Sky Distance, Anna Gibson of Brooks, and Maria Seykora of Philadelphia Runner Track Club round out the order of competitors.

On the men’s side, Vincent Ciattei of Under Armor’s Dark Sky Distance will look to top his third-place finish from last year’s championship as the top returning competitor.

The 2022 road mile champion ran 4:02.91 to finish a little over a second behind champion Sam Prakel in 4:01.2 in last year’s field.

Returning top 10 finishers from last year’s race alongside Ciattei will be Nick Randazzo, Jake Gillum, and Shane Streich.

Randazzo, a three-time Big West conference champion from UC-Santa Cruz, placed fourth in 4:03.2, with Gillum, a former Illinois State standout, earning sixth overall in 4:04.0 and Streich, representing Atlanta Track Club, finishing seventh in 4:04.6.

Streich’s club teammate, Abraham Alvarado, is another returning competitor who finished just outside the top 10 in last year’s race, running 4:07.9 for 11th.

Among other returning finishers is Mike Brannigan, the 2016 Paralympic gold medalist in the 1,500 T20 who represents New York Athletic Club. He finished 16th in 4:18.3.

Under Armor’s Willy Fink will return to the USATF 1 Mile Road Championships for the first time since 2022, where he placed sixth overall.

A trio of World Athletics Cross Country Championship competitors for the U.S. should be among top competitors in the field. 

Under Armor’s Kasey Knevelbaard and John Reniewicki were members of the 2024 relay team in Belgrade, Serbia, while teammate Alec Basten was a member of the 2023 relay team in Australia.

Former NCAA All-Americans Mac Franks (Western Washington), Tanner Maier (Minnesota State) and Benjamin Veatch (Indiana) are among first-time competitors.

Berea College’s Sair Salgado Fernandez, former University of Tennessee runner Tim Thacker and former University of Portland runner Caleb Webb complete the list of racers.

On demand race videos, results and post-race interviews will be available shortly after the race in cooperation with Runnerspace.com.

About the USATF Running Circuit

The USATF Running Circuit is a USATF road series featuring USATF championships from one mile through the marathon and consistently attracts the best American distance runners with more than $500,000 to be awarded in total prize money. A total of $25,000 in prize money will be awarded at the USATF 1 Mile Road Championships.

The first 10 U.S. runners earn points at each USATF Running Circuit race. For the USATF 1 Road Mile Championships, scoring is set as 15 for first, 12 for second, 10 for third, 7 , 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1, with those earning the most points receiving prize money at the end of the series.

The mission of the USATF Running Circuit is to showcase, support and promote U.S. runners. Since its inception in 1995, the USATF Running Circuit and its races have provided over $7 million to U.S. distance runners.

Contributed by Keenan Gray