LOS ANGELES – Sun Devil track and field and cross country alumni Amy Cragg (Hastings) and Desiree Linden (Davila) finished first and second at the U.S. Olympic Marathon Team Trials in Los Angeles on Saturday, becoming the first American Sun Devils to punch their tickets to the 2016 Rio Olympic Games this year.
Cragg and Linden became the first two Americans from the same alma mater to qualify for the Olympic Marathon in the same year.
In the hottest U.S. Olympic Trials race in history, Cragg became the American champion after pulling away from her Bowerman Track Club teammate Shalane Flanagan over the final mile to claim the victory in a time of 2:28.20. Linden closed strong, passing Flanagan down the stretch to take second in 2:28.54 and advance to her second consecutive Olympic Games.
Flanagan would take third in the race, but will give plenty of credit to Cragg, who’s incredible teamwork helped coax her training partner down the stretch when Flanagan began to flag with about three miles left. Cragg could be viewed on television encouraging her teammate along, opening water bottles for her in the final miles and inevitably putting Flanagan in position to take the third and final qualifying spot.
Cragg, 32, competed in the 2012 Olympics in London as well, finishing 11th, as the American Champion at 10,000 meters that year. Linden competed in the marathon in 2012 but did not finish.
One of the most decorated athletes in Sun Devil track and field history, Cragg (then Hastings) was a 10-time All-American for ASU – the third-highest tally in program history – and the 2004 Pac-12 Cross Country Champion. Her 13th-place finish at the 2004 NCAA Championships is the second-highest finish at the event in ASU history. She was the 2005 NCAA Indoor Champion at 5,000 meters.
Linden – then Davila – was Cragg’s teammate at ASU from 2002-05 and was a cross country All-American for the Sun Devils in 2003 and a three-time All-Conference runner for ASU.