Seneca Lassiter

Seneca Lassiter
Personal information
Nationality	American
Born	(1977-03-12) March 12, 1977 Williamsburg, Virginia
Sport
Sport	Track
Event(s)	800 metres, 1500 metres, Mile, 5000 metres
College team	Arkansas
Achievements and titles
Personal best(s)	800 metres: 1:45.51^[1] 1500 metres: 3:33.72^[1] Mile: 3:54.36^[1]

Seneca Lassiter (born 12 March 1977) is an American former middle distance runner who specialized in the 1500 meters. As a high schooler running for Lafayette of Williamsburg, Virginia, he won National Scholastic indoor and outdoor championships for the mile and 800 meter run. In collegiate competition he ran for University of Arkansas, which was recognized for its prestigious track program which in Lassiter's time included recruits such as Sharif Karie. Lassiter ran professionally for Nike after his college spell.

Running career

High school

Lassiter ran for Lafayette High School in Williamsburg, Virginia. As a junior in 1994, he won both the National Scholastic indoor and outdoor mile run championships. He again won the National Scholastic indoor as a senior in 1995 and won the 800 meters at the USA Juniors.^[2]

Collegiate

Lassiter ran collegiately for the University of Arkansas under coach John McDonnell where he won the NCAA Outdoor 1500 m in 1997 and 1998 and was 2nd in 1999. Lassiter finished 2nd in the NCAA Indoor Mile in 1997 and 3rd in 1998 and 1999. He was named most outstanding performer among collegiate men at the Penn Relays in both 1997 and 1999.^[3]

In 1997, Lassiter won the 1500 meters at the USATF Outdoor National Championships. While still a collegian, he was ranked as the number 2 1500 meter runner in the US by Track and Field News magazine after both the 1997 and 1999 seasons.

Post-collegiate

Lassiter continued running for Nike following the completion of his college eligibility.

In 2001, Lassiter won the mile at the USA Indoor Track and Field Championships and followed that by finishing sixth at the 2001 IAAF World Indoor Championships in Lisbon, Portugal. He then finished second in the 1500 meters at the USATF Outdoor Championships in the same year. He was again ranked #2 in the US by Track and Field News at the completion of the season.

Lassiter had another strong season in 2002, again winning the 1500 meters at the USATF Outdoor National Championships and again ranking #2 in the US.

In 2002, Lassiter admitted to serving as a pacemaker in the 1500-meters for then-Kenyan Bernard Lagat at the World Cup competition. Lassiter and Lagat were training partners at the time and Lassiter’s actions took him out of the running in the race and eliminated a chance for the US team to score more points in the team competition.^[4]^[5]^[6] Lassiter later issued an apology to the team and was sanctioned by the USATF for his actions, requiring him to complete 20 hours of community service and receiving a letter of reprimand. Lassiter then began coaching at Springdale High School in Springdale Arkansas ^[7]

Rankings

Lassiter was ranked among the top ten 1500 meter runners in the US by Track and Field News for six straight years:^[8]

Year	Event	US rank
1997	1500 meters	2nd
1998	1500 meters	9th
1999	1500 meters	2nd
2000	1500 meters	6th
2001	1500 meters	2nd
2002	1500 meters	2nd

References

US National Championship winners in men's 1500-meter run or mile

1876–78 New York Athletic Club	1876^M: Harold Lambe (CAN) * Cornelius Vought 1877^M: Richard Morgan 1878^M: Thomas Smith

1879–88 NAAAA	1879^M: Henry Pellatt (CAN) * William Duffy 1880–83^M: Harry Fredericks 1884^M: Percy Madeira 1885^M: George Gilbert 1886–87^M: Edward Carter 1888^M^{Note 1}: Thomas Conneff

1888–1979 Amateur Athletic Union	1888^M^{Note 1}: G.M. Gibbs (CAN) * Thomas Conneff 1889–90^M: Albert George 1891^M: Thomas Conneff 1892^M: George Orton (CAN) * Ernest Hjertberg 1893-5^M: George Orton (CAN) * A.J. Walsh 1896^M: George Orton (CAN) * Mortimer Remington 1897–98^M: John Cregan 1899^M: Alex Grant 1900^M: George Orton (CAN) Alex Grant 1901–03^M: Alex Grant 1904^M: David Munson 1905^M: James Lightbody 1906^M: Albert Rodgers 1907^M: James Sullivan 1908^M: Herbert Trube 1909^M: Joe Ballard 1910^M: Joe Monument 1911–12^M: Abel Kiviat 1913^M: Norman Taber 1914^M: Abel Kiviat 1915^M: Joie Ray 1916^M: Ivan Meyers 1917–23^M ^OT: Joie Ray 1924–25^M: Ray Buker 1926^M: Lloyd Hahn 1927M-28^OT: Ray Conger 1929^M: Leo Lermond 1930^M: Ray Conger 1931^M: Leo Lermond 1932^OT: Norwood Hallowell 1933: Glenn Cunningham 1934: Bill Bonthron 1935–38: Glenn Cunningham 1939: Blaine Rideout 1940: Walter Mehl 1941: Les MacMitchell 1942–43: Gil Dodds 1944: Bill Hulse 1945: Roland Sink 1946: Lennart Strand (SWE) Les MacMitchell 1947: Gerry Karver 1948: Gil Dodds 1949–50: John Twomey 1951: Len Truex 1952–53^M: Wes Santee 1954^M: Fred Dwyer 1955^M: Wes Santee 1956: Jerome Walters 1957^M: Merv Lincoln (AUS) * Bob Seaman 1958^M: Herb Elliott (AUS) * Ed Moran 1959: Dyrol Burleson 1960: Jim Grelle 1961^M: Dyrol Burleson 1962^M: Jim Beatty 1963^M: Dyrol Burleson 1964: Tom O'Hara 1965–67^M: Jim Ryun 1968: John Mason 1969^M: Marty Liquori 1970^M: Howell Michael 1971^M: Marty Liquori 1972: Jerome Howe 1973^M: Len Hilton 1974: Rod Dixon (NZL) * Tom Byers 1975: Len Hilton 1976: Eamonn Coghlan (IRL) *Michael Manke 1977–79: Steve Scott

1980–92 The Athletics Congress	1980: Steve Lacy 1981: Sydney Maree (SAF) * Steve Scott 1982–83: Steve Scott 1984–85: Jim Spivey 1986: Steve Scott 1987: Jim Spivey 1988: Mark Deady 1989: Terrence Herrington 1990: Joe Falcon 1991: Terrence Herrington 1992^OT: Jim Spivey

1993-onwards USA Track & Field	1993: Bill Burke 1994: Terrence Herrington 1995–96^OT: Paul McMullen 1997: Seneca Lassiter 1998: Jamey Harris 1999: Steve Holman 2000^OT: Gabe Jennings 2001: Andy Downin 2002: Seneca Lassiter 2003: Jason Lunn 2004–05: Alan Webb 2006: Bernard Lagat 2007: Alan Webb 2008: Bernard Lagat 2009–10: Lopez Lomong 2011: Matthew Centrowitz 2012: Leonel Manzano 2013: Matthew Centrowitz 2014: Leonel Manzano 2015–16: Matthew Centrowitz

Notes	Note 1: In 1888 both the NAAAA and the AAU held championships OT: The 1920, 1928, 1932, 1992, 1996 & 2000 championships incorporated the Olympic Trials, otherwise held as a discrete event. "M": Where this follows the year it denotes that the race was run over a mile rather than 1500 m

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