Stepping Lively

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EUGENE, Ore. -- Shannon Rowbury easily was the class of the field in the women’s 1,500 meters, and she decided to show it after the pace lagged in Sunday’s final.

Rowbury, a one-time Irish step dancer, began stepping very lively in the final lap and pulled away to an easy victory in 4 minutes, 5.48 seconds. Runner-up Erin Donohue, who trains with Rowbury, was second in 4:08.20.

‘I was having to slow myself down, so I decided I was going to push and keep up my pace,’’ Rowbury said. ‘It is easier to do that than speed up and slow down.’’

Rowbury, 24, missed the 2007 season -- her senior year at Duke -- because of a hip injury. She showed renewed fitness with a 4:01.61 earlier this year, spurring talk she could be the third U.S. woman to go sub-4, joining Mary Slaney and Suzy Favor Hamilton.

Prep star Jordan Hasay’s run ended in the final, but she beat two starters, finishing 10th in 4:17.36, about three seconds off the U.S. high school record she set in the semifinals. Hasay leaves Monday for the World Junior Championships, then goes back to San Luis Obispo, Calif., for her senior year of high school.

‘I didn’t know what I would be capable of. I knew it was going to be a test for me,’’ Hasay said. ‘The race went out slow, which was good for me. At the final kick I did the best I could, but it just wasn’t there at the end.

‘I came out to compete and not to be too intimidated. I still have a lot of work to do to be up there.’

-- Philip Hersh