FAST TIME FOR HOEY, SECOND VICTORIES FOR HILTZ & KESSLER AT USATF INDOOR CHAMPIONSHIPS

FAST TIME FOR HOEY, SECOND VICTORIES FOR HILTZ & KESSLER AT USATF INDOOR CHAMPIONSHIPS
By David Monti, @d9monti.bsky.social
(c) 2025 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved, used with permission. 

STATEN ISLAND (23-Feb) — Josh Hoey (adidas) ran the second-fastest indoor 800m in history, while Nikki Hiltz (lululemon) and Hobbs Kessler (adidas) rallied back from their 3000m wins yesterday to also take the 1500m titles on the second and final day of the USATF Indoor Championships at the Ocean Breeze Athletic Complex.

Hoey, 25, came into these championships as the favorite to win after setting national indoor records at both 800m (1:43.90) and 1000m (2:14.48) earlier this season.  He took charge of today’s final like a champion, moving immediately to the front and stringing out the field.  He was followed closely by 2024 Olympian Brandon Miller (Brooks Beasts TC) and Jonah Koech (Under Armour).  Hoey hadn’t planned to lead so early, but felt good.

“I was thinking maybe I would kind of go out behind someone, and I wanted to get out in at least 50.5,” Hoey told reporters.  “So, I was feeling good today and that just kind of put me in the front.”

Hoey hit halfway in 50.36, right at his goal pace.  Miller was just a step behind (50.47), and Koech was in third (50.74).  Miller, who was told by his Beasts teammate Isaiah Harris to stay patient, knew his best play was to stay in Hoey’s slipstream.

“Just stay attached and let him do the work,” said Miller when asked by a reporter to explain his tactics today.  “I mean, his last lap was incredible.”

Indeed, Hoey blasted a 26.54 split for his final circuit and broke the tape in a sizzling 1:43.24, the second fastest indoor time in history behind only Wilson Kipketer’s vaunted world record of 1:42.67 from Paris in 1997.  Miller did his best to stay close, and scored an indoor personal best of 1:44.26.  That made him the #4 American in history.

“I knew I was going to have to run through the line; I knew there was always going to be someone behind me,” Hoey said of his last lap.  “This is a really strong field, especially with some of the other events, I would say the deepest.  I was like, if you go to the front you have to stay to the end.”

Miller was excited about his personal best and the fact that he had made another national team.  Still, he had hoped to win.

“Obviously the competitor in me is a little mad, but when you PR by over a second indoors you can’t be mad at that,” Miller said.

Wes Ferguson ran his second personal best in two days, taking third in 1:44.92, his first sub-1:45 indoors or out.  He will be the alternate for Team USATF for the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Nanjing, China, next month.

In the 1500’s, which were run as straight finals, both Hiltz and Kessler lived up to their status as race favorites.  Hiltz, 30, stayed back from the lead during the early laps, even running in lane two to avoid getting tripped.  Hiltz started to wind it up with two laps to go, dropping a 30.39 for the penultimate lap, then smoking the final circuit in 28.23 on their way to a season’s best 4:05.76.  Hiltz now has eight total national titles in track, indoor track and road running.

“I feel good,” said Hiltz, who already told the media yesterday that they would not be competing in the World Athletics Indoor Championships next month.  “It was fun.  I thought it was going to be a little bit faster, but no one really wanted to take it.  Yeah, I think pole position is everything in indoors, and I saw two to go and I said, I’m just going to make my move now.”

Both Johnson, who ran an indoor personal best of 4:06.05, and MacLean, who clocked 4:06.69, are currently qualified to go to the World Athletics Indoor Championships through the World Athletics top list.  They could guarantee their spots by running the qualifying standard of 4:03.00 by March 9.

“I’m pleased with it,” Johnson said.  “I wanted to come here today and make that indoor world team.  I did that, so I’ve got to be happy with that.”

Shelby Houlihan (Unattached), who had hoped to make the podium today, finished fourth.

Kessler used a completely different tactic than Hiltz.  He went to the front of the field right from the gun and controlled the race at a reasonable –but not too fast– a pace.  He wanted to run fast enough to string out the field and burn off a few people, while still saving his legs for the final laps.

“It just kind of came to me on the starting line,” said Kessler, 21, when asked why he chose to win it from the front.  He continued: “I think yesterday (in the 3000m) I made a mistake of going so late.  It was dicey, right?”

With three laps to go, Kessler dropped the pace to 28.48 seconds, then dropped it again to 27.49 for the penultimate lap.  Not surprisingly, it was Sam Prakel (adidas) –who won both the 1500m and 3000m national indoor titles in 2023– who stayed right on Kessler’s heels and had the best chance of beating him.  But Kessler’s last lap of 26.26 was just a little too fast for Prakel, who finished second.  Kessler was timed in 3:38.82 and Prakel in 3:39.14.  Luke Houser (Atlanta Track Club) took third in his first national championships as a pro in 3:39.27.

“I just did my best to hold my position up-front because I knew it (Kessler’s final move) was going to come at some point,” Prakel told Race Results Weekly.  He continued: “Indoors, you don’t want to be shuffled to the back.  There’s no coming back from that.”

Kessler told reporters yesterday that he will not be running at the World Athletics Indoor Championships.  That means Prakel and third place Houser have tentative team berths, but need either to make the qualifying standard of 3:33.50 (3:50.50 for the mile) by March 9, or be placed high enough in the World Athletics top list when the final pre-championships indoor lists are published on March 12.  Parkel said he would likely head for the fast track at Boston University to get a time.

In the other distance final today, 2024 Olympic Trials champion Nia Akins (Hoka) ran a savvy race in the women’s 800m to pick up her second national indoor title in a personal best 1:59.31.  Akins ran off the lead for most of the race and watched her former Brooks Beasts Track Club teammate Valery Tobias set the pace at the front.  Tobias went through halfway in 59.31, and was still leading with 100 meters to go.  Akins kept her cool and waited for the right moment to strike.

“I wasn’t really thinking anything, I wasn’t focused on the people,” Akins told Race Results Weekly.  “I was trying to focus on Jesus, breathe, and just be patient as much as I could, and see what I had left at the end.”

Akins had plenty left.  She went from third place at the bell, to first in the homestretch.  Tobias was far enough ahead of Sage Hurta-Klecker to take second in an excellent personal best –indoors or out– of 1:59.55.  That put the former University of Texas star on her first national team.

“Yes, the race of my life,” a delighted Tobias told Race Results Weekly.  “Honestly, I just wanted to get out.  Once I saw myself in front I was like, there’s nothing to lose and everything to win.  Today was about having fun and I’m really happy with the outcome.”

Both Akins and Tobias have the entry mark for the Nanjing world championships (2:00.00 or better), but should one of them decide not to compete there, Hurta-Klecker also has the entry standard.

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Prize money was paid at these championships five-deep ($6000-4000-2500-1500-1000); sponsored athletes would also earn undisclosed cash bonuses for top placings from their sponsors.