The facility that will house World Indoors in less than 2 months hosted a second warm-up event tonight in Portland, and several big names showed up to bust some rust.

Here are the highlights from Friday night at the House of Track:

Welcome back, Paul Chelimo

A great battle unfolded in the men’s 3k between an NOP-debuting Eric Jenkins and former UNC Greensboro stud Paul Chelimo, with the U.S. Army runner surprisingly burning the former Oregon star in the last lap to take the win and a 2016 world lead of 7:44.68. Jenkins would have to settle for second in 7:45.14, this despite making a hard move with 600m to go that appeared to leave Chelimo, and the rest of the field, sputtering in his wake.

Everyone besides Chelimo was tossed aside with Jenkins’ hard push with three to go, but the 25-year-old who had seemingly gone MIA the last couple years (his 13:21 5k PR is from 2012) tonight proved to be a throwback to the Chelimo of days gone by as he zoomed past Jenkins shortly after the bell. Jenkins had no counter at this point, proving his earlier move to be a bit too ambitious.

You can’t fault Jenkins for his strong move, however, as he probably didn’t plan on Chelimo having a 1:26 last 600m in the chamber, which I’m pretty sure no one did. After all, Chelimo’s 3:40 1500 PR is also a relic from 2012.

For Chelimo, it’s his most notable performance since finishing runner-up in the 2013 NCAA Outdoor 5k, and also a five-second PR. Grabbing a quality scalp like Jenkins could be just the kickstart he needs to get back to his 2012 form.

Despite a loss, it was a solid season opener for Jenkins. 7:45.14 is just outside his indoor PR, and he looked confident running up front as he made that hard move, even if he couldn’t hold off the resurgent Chelimo.

I guess now is a good time to point out that Chelimo called it:

Tomorrow is a gud dy to die,in gud shape n ready 2 start my "16 season with a bang...for thos who forgot that i'm a factor will prove 'em x

— Paul Chelimo (@Paulchelimo) January 21, 2016

Nice Pre reference too, Paul. And way to back it up with a win, most importantly.

The U.S. 3k team for Worlds is going to be very tough to make, especially if Rupp runs, but Chelimo at least threw his hat in the ring as a wildcard pick with his big win on Friday. Top two will be a brutal task no matter who shows up, however. 

In the race behind this pair, Portland’s Woody Kincaid charged home in third with an NCAA-leading 7:48.89, which made for an almost comical 34-second PR for the redshirt senior. Kincaid had a breakout performance to finish fifth in the NCAA 5k last fall, and he’s kept the train rolling this indoor season as he now owns 2016’s top college times in the 3k and 5k.

The trio of Chelimo, Jenkins, and Kincaid all ran under the 7:50 World Indoors standard, although Jenkins already had a mark by virtue of his 13:07 5k in July.

Jenkins’ Oregon Project teammate Cam Levins did not look good on Friday night, as he was a distant fourth in 7:52.67. He had no response when Jenkins started pushing it at 600m out.

In other action…

Andrew Wheating won the men’s 1500 in a world-leading 3:39.89, just missing the 3:39.50 IAAF standard. Wheating shadowed pacer/teammate Tom Farrell throughout, and went unchallenged after Farrell stepped off with 400m to go en route to a comfortable victory. Trevor Dunbar was second in 3:40.77.

Laura Roesler took an easy W in the women’s 800 in 2:04.04, clearing second place by just shy of four seconds. The 24-year-old missed most of 2015 with injury.

FULL RESULTS