Chapus to Run at World Track Championships

For once she didn't win, nevertheless Palisadian Cami Chapus will be traveling to Lille, France, to compete for the United States' 17-under team at the IAAF World Youth Track & Field Championships July 6-10.

The Harvard-Westlake High School junior clocked 4:25.61 Wednesday at the World Youth Track & Field Trials to place second by 69 hundredths of a second to Hannah Meier of Grosse Pointe South High in Michigan in the 1,500 meters at Shaw Stadium in Myrtle Beach, S.C.

Chapus led for most of the race until Meier cut into her lane and the Palisadian couldn't get around her in the final 25 meters.

Normally, USA Track & Field will select the top two runners in each event, meaning Chapus would've made the cut, but because she has primarily run the 1,600 meters in CIF competition she didn't meet qualifying marks for the 1,500.

However, when her overall season was taken into account (she owns the fastest prep outdoor mile time in the nation this year) Chapus was added to the team.

Harvard-Westlake teammate Amy Weissenbach, also a junior, will be joining Chapus in France after finishing second in the 800 at the World Youth Trials to qualify for next week's Championships. Weissenbach set the all-time national high school record in the event (2:02.04) at the CIF state championships June 4 in Clovis.

Four days before the Trials, Chapus won the 1,600 at the Nike Track Nationals in Eugene, Oregon, in a meet record 4:56.15. The week prior she won the adidas Grand Prix High School Girls' Dream Mile in Randall's Island, New York in a high-school best 4:42.71.

Chapus' result Wednesday was more than 10 seconds faster than the 4:34.73 she ran in her first try at the 1,500-meter distance at the New Balance Outdoor Nationals in Greensboro, N.C. on June 17.