Wilson and Kenyans take Boston titles

NEW YORK: Two-time world indoor runner-up Ajee Wilson won the 800 meters Saturday in distance events contested on the opening night of the Boston Games athletics meet.

Wilson won at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology stadium track in 1min 59.27secs, .16 ahead of Jamaica’s Natoya Goule, who was third at this year’s Commonwealth Games.

Kenyans celebrated two triumphs with Cyrus Rutto taking the men’s 3,000 in 7:45.64 and Caroline Kipkirui taking the women’s 5,000 in 15:55.24, edging Ethiopia’s Fotyen Tesfay by .51.

Britain’s Chris O’Hare, a 1,500 Rio Olympic semi-finalist coming off a foot injury, finished second. New Zealand’s Nick Willis, twice an Olympic 1,500m medalist, was sixth in 4:00.29 in his outdoor season debut. The 35-year-old Kiwi missed April’s Commonwealth Games with a leg injury.

Canada’s Brandon McBride won the men’s 800 in 1:45.18, defeating Poland’s Marcin Lewandowski by .93. Ethiopia’s Dawit Seyaum, the 2016 world indoor 1,500m runner-up, won the 1,500 in 4:04.65, edging American Charlene Lipsey by .33.