PORTLAND, Ore. — Saturday was a good day to be a favorite at the 2016 USATF Indoor Championships at the Oregon Convention Center. The four mid-distance finals produced four predictable champions, and while Matthew Centrowitz had to give everything he had to hold of fRobby Andrews in the men’s 1500, the other three races (men’s and women’s 800, women’s 1500) contained considerably less drama. In each case, the favorite won with considerable ease; 800 studs Ajee Wilson and Boris Berian cruised to wire-to-wire victories whileBrenda Martinez used a devastating 30.44-second final lap to destroy the women’s 1500 field.

We recapped the epic men’s 1500 in its own article here; below, we recap and analyze the other three mid-d races.

Women’s 800: Ajee Wilson Prevails in Trouble-Free Fashion

In her past two U.S. finals, tragedy has struck Ajee Wilson. In last year’s indoor 600 final, she hit the ground hard midway through the race and wound up last. In the outdoor 800 final four months later, she lost a shoe and came .04 from missing out on Team USA (adding injury to insult, she eventually withdrew from Worlds anyway). So tonight Wilson made it her mission to get to the front early and stay out of trouble. She accomplished that, leading the field through 200 meters in 29.91 seconds. Wilson has looked great all year and cruised through yesterday’s prelim, and given that evidence, plus the ease with which she assumed the lead today, the outcome felt predetermined even with 600 meters to go. Wilson led for the next two laps but had a ton left to give at the bell, and her final lap also happened to be her fastest of the race (29.50) as she negative-splitted her way to a 2:00.87 victory (61.47-59.40).

The more interesting battle was for second place. Even though Laura Roesler was assured of a spot to Worlds as the only other woman with the IAAF standard, she had her work cut out for her tonight. She was in fourth at the halfway mark and moved up to third just before the bell, sitting behind 2011 U.S. indoor champ Phoebe Wright. But Wright would not go down without a fight, and it took all Roesler had to barely nip Wright for second, 2:02.44 to 2:02.51.

Race video * Lap-by-lap splits

Prior to this year, Wilson had broken 2:01 indoors just once in her career. Now she’s done it twice in two meets, running a PR 2:00.09 at Millrose and following it up with a 2:00.87 tonight. And the way she ran that 2:00.87, running a big negative split, suggests that she’s capable of going well under 2:00 right now. Whether she actually will at Worlds is another thing, but on current form, Wilson, the 2016 world leader, has a great chance to give the U.S. two straight World Indoor champions in the women’s 8 U.S. senior team

Roesler said that she wasn’t pleased with her race.

“I just feel like I ran really scared…I just haven’t felt like I’ve had my legs the last couple days,” Roesler said.

However, there were several things Roesler can be proud of, chief among them qualifying for her first senior World Championships, which she said was “really cool.” And despite being unhappy with the way she ran, she was also proud to take second. Even though Roesler could have finished last and still made the team, she wanted to feel as if she earned her spot and to do that, she had to finish in the top two.

Roesler said she’s felt flat the entire weekend but is optimistic that with some rest, she’ll be in a better spot a week from now.

“I’m kind of hoping that’s my body’s way of saving energy for next week,” Roesler said. “It has a plan.”

Berian has been crushing it for almost a year now, running 1:43.34 last summer and 1:46.00 and 1:15.51 (for 600) indoors this season. One thing he had yet to accomplish was win a national title, but he accomplished that in fine fashion today, taking the lead just before the 200-meter mark and never looking back. His strategy was as simple as they come — run away from everyone else — and though Harun Abda was close behind him at 400 (which Berian passed in 51.90) and the bell (Abda was just .12 back), Berian had speed to burn over the final lap, closing in 27.50 to ice a 1:47.19 victory. Erik Sowinski managed to move past Abda to take second and will now hope that he’s done enough to earn an at-large spot to Worlds. The IAAF said it will take 18 runners and Sowinski is currently #18 on the world list for 2016 (200-meter tracks).

Race video * Lap-by-lap splits

Quick Take #1: Boris Berian earns U.S. title #1; now will somebody sponsor the guy?

Berian was on the fringes of the sport a year ago. Now he’s the US champ but unsponsored. That should change soon.

It was always going to be tough to beat Berian, but Sowinski did himself no favors tonight. His plan was to be in the top two when the runners broke from their lanes, but Abda and Cas Loxsom beat him to the punch; Sowinski was in fourth at the 200-meter mark. He managed to work himself into third by the bell, but was in horrible position to move as Berian was in the lead on the inside of lane 1 with Abda on his shoulder on the outside of lane 1. As a result, Sowinski had to run much of the final lap in lane 2. Sowinski couldn’t get around Abda on the backstretch, and by the time he finally passed him on the turn, Berian was gone. Sowinski managed to close the gap slightly over the final 50 meters, but it was never going to be enough.

Sowinski said ideally he would have been in position to attack with 300 to go, but his tactics were poor, leaving him too much work to do to catch a fine runner in Berian.

Sowinski mentioned yesterday how he’s hoping the IAAF grants him an at-large spot to Worlds as they fill the field and said he’s going to reach out to USATF to see if they’ve heard anything on the matter.

“I ran really well two days in a row,” Sowinski said. “I’ve run six races between 1:47.11 and 1:47.6, so you can’t be too upset with that. I’ve been consistent, I feel good so I’d like to give it a go next week if they let me.”

Sowinski said it was frustrating because he didn’t know where he stood heading into the meet or what criteria the IAAF would use to select additional runners — did he need to time-trial a 1:46 or would they value place over time? Sowinski ultimately decided to approach it as he would a normal championship, focusing solely on the win. Hopefully he did enough this weekend to earn his place.

Women’s 1500: Brenda Martinez dominates; Cory McGee grabs second spot on World Indoor team

After pre-race favorite Shannon Rowbury scratched (she wanted to rest up for the 3k at Worlds), the women’s 1500 became the most wide-open distance race of the meet. Perhaps not for first, where Martinez was likely to win, but you could make a case that of the remaining nine runners, seven had a legitimate case for the second spot (and all seven had the IAAF standard).

For several laps, not much changed in this one as from 500 to 1100 meters, the order remained the same up front: 2014 World Indoor finalist Heather Kampf, followed by Katie Mackey, Amanda Eccleston and Brenda Martinez.

After a string of 33- and 34-second laps, the pace dropped to 32 for the penultimate lap as Martinez grabbed the lead and made a hard move just before the bell. That really shook things up as what had been a close race strung out quickly. Martinez pulled away up front, creating a gap on second-place Cory McGee, who in turn built a gap on third. With Martinez’s win assured, the only drama was for second, where Eccleston fought back to narrow the deficit to McGee. But McGee’s early burst at the start of the final lap had provided her with a cushion too large to overcome, and she would hold onto second at the line, crossing with a fist pump as a megawatt smile broke out on her lips.