CANTON, Ohio — The battle for the top spot in the USATF Running Circuit standings carries on Saturday in Canton, Ohio at the USATF Women’s 6 km Championships, as a deep field headlined by Jessa Hanson, Nell Rojas, and Emma Hurley lead the way. The USATF Women’s 6 km Championship, hosted by the Women’s 6K Festival, is the seventh stop on the 2023 USATF Running Circuit. With the 2023 USATF Running Circuit calendar over halfway complete, every race matters for the battle at the top of the standings. Currently, Jessa Hanson holds a 29-28 point advantage over second place Nell Rojas, while Emma Hurley sits third with 22 points. All three women are entered in Saturday’s contest in Canton, each seeking to build on recent success. Hanson’s standings lead comes from two third place performances earlier this season, as she placed in the bronze medal position at both the USATF 25 km and USATF 15 km Championships. She hasn’t raced since mid-May, so Saturday’s race will be a great gage of her current fitness. Rojas and Hurley are both having fantastic 2023 campaigns. Rojas placed second at the USATF 10 Mile Championships and third at the USATF Half Marathon Championships already this season, more recently placing 14th at the MasterCard New York Mini 10K. Hurley, who placed second at the USATF 15 km Championships and third at the USATF 10 Mile Championships, is seeing great results on the roads, having also earned a tenth-place finish at the MasterCard New York Mini 10K, seventh place at the BAA 5K, and most recently a 16th place finish at the AJC Peachtree 10K Road Race. Ednah Kurgat is coming off a magnificent week in Eugene at the USATF Outdoor Championships, where she placed sixth in the 10,000m and 13th in the 5,000m, the results arguably making her the pre-race favorite coming into Saturday’s contest. Kurgat won the USATF Cross Country Championships earlier this year, following that up with a 18th place finish at the World Athletics Cross Country Championships, and beat Hurley by one spot to place ninth at the MasterCard New York Mini 10K. The runner-up finisher from the 2022 USATF Women’s 6 km Championships, Annie Rodenfels, is also entered Saturday and looks to move up one spot. Rodenfels ran a great race in Canton last year, finishing only two seconds back to winner Keira D’Amato, while finishing 14 seconds ahead of third place Aliphine Tuliamuk. Rodenfels claimed a third-place finish at the BAA 5K back in April against some strong competition, while most recently taking home 12th in the 5000m at the USATF Outdoor Championships. The trio of Molly Grabill, Emily Lipari, and Taylor Werner are all fully capable of challenging for top three finishes on Saturday. Grabill has two fourth place finishes to her name on the USATF Running Circuit this season with her strong placings at the USATF Half Marathon and USATF 10 Mile Championships. Lipari placed fourth at the USATF Cross Country Championships while claiming 56th at the World Athletics Cross Country Championships and earned 17th in the 5000m at the USATF Outdoor Championships last week, while Werner is the 2021 USATF Women’s 6 km Champion and placed one spot ahead of Lipari in Eugene with a 16th place finish in the 5000m. One young runner to keep an eye on is Kassie Parker. The two-time NCAA DIII Cross Country Champion, who also won the DIII national titles in the 5000m and 10,000m this spring, placed ninth in the 10,000m at the USATF Outdoor Championships. Parker is a big-time racer who is testing her talent on the roads for the first time since graduating from Loras College and could easily challenge for top three in Canton. More top talent seeking high finishes includes Tristin Van Ord, who placed top ten at the 2022 USATF Women’s 6 km Championships and placed 11th at the MasterCard New York Mini 10K, Anne-Marie Blaney, who placed 15th at the New York Mini 10K and more recently 18th at the AJC Peachtree 10K Road Race, as well as Erika Kemp, who has had her fair share of past successes on the USATF Running Circuit. On demand race videos, results, and post-race interviews will be available shortly after the race in cooperation with RunnerSpace.com. Join the conversation on Twitter with the hashtag #USARC.
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 $20,000 in prize money will be awarded at the USATF Women’s 6 km Championship. The first ten U.S. runners earn points at each USATF Running Circuit race. For the USATF Women’s 6 km 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 Scott Bush