Lipari, O’Hare take top honors in metric mile

The Boston Athletic Association staged an unexpected sweep of the men’s and women’s 1,500-meter events at last night’s Adidas Boost Boston championships at Dilboy Stadium.

American Emily Lipari and Chris O’Hare of Great Britain both wear the blue and gold of the BAA and both won their respective metric mile race against elite international fields.

“It was pretty exciting to see Chris finish right up there,” said Lipari, who came to Boston from Villanova. “I think it has been a good year for both of us and the BAA in general and we both really made some big jumps here.

“We are gearing up for our national meets and we are really pleased with how it went along,” added Lipari, who was the victor of the most competitive event of the meet.

Five women from three continents formed a tight knot as the race entered the far turn. Race-favorite Dominque Scott of South Africa, who is a fivetime NCAA champion from Arkansas, surged to the front and appeared in control of the race into the homestretch.

Lipari ran a tactically sound race by settling in behind the leaders. She followed Scott’s lead before drifting into the second lane to stage her challenge. Lipari made her final surge in the last 20 meters to break the tape in 4:12.32. Scott was second in 4:12.45.

“We have a new mentality this year with winning races and running smart,” said Lipari. “I’ve been getting better results that way and we went out here tonight just trying to go with the pace and I was feeling really confident.”

O’Hare was working his way toward the front on the final backstretch while contending with the team tactics of Kenya’s Edwin Kiptoo and Charles Simotwo.

O’Hare surged to the front and brought along the Kenyan pair for the ride. O’Hare found his kick in the final 50 meters on his way to a time of 3:39.31 to outlast Kiptoo (3:39.54) and Simotwo (3:40.13).

“I was waiting for 160 or 150 to go and try and open up and it just worked,” said O’Hare. “With 500 to go I could feel the pace slipping a little bit.

“With 500 to go I needed to make it happen, the pace was slacking ever so slightly and wasn’t sure when we were all going to start kicking together. I thought go for it and I held on better that I thought.”

Kansas alum Michael Stigler bested a strong international field that included the top American in the Boost Boston introductory 400-meter hurdles race.

Starting from the Lane 6, Stigler enjoyed a clean trip over the 10 hurdles to break the tape in 48.96 seconds, which was a shade under his personal-best time of 48.44. He held off a late surge from compatriot Michael Tinsley (49.28), who was the silver medalist in this event at the Rio Olympics.