Surprisingly, the men's 1500 at Payton Jordan doesn't always live up to the hype. While that may be due to the "rust buster" aspect of the race, most of the elite athletes also aren't chasing qualifying times just yet and are more focused on rehearsing their race tactics or getting their feet wet.

Take a look at the past 12 Payton Jordan 1500m winners:

2016: Izaic Yorks, 3:37.74
2015: Chad Noelle, 3:38.35
2014: Riley Masters, 3:38.42
2013: Chris O'Hare, 3:38.48
2012: Andy Baddeley, 3:35.19 (Meet Record)
2011: Ben Blankenship, 3:39.49
2010: Dylan Ferris, 3:40.07
2009: Matthew Centrowitz, 3:36.92
2008: Kevin Sullivan, 3:39.75
2007: Juan Luis Barrios, 3:38.71
2006: Aucencio Martinez, 3:40.92
2005: Donald Sage, 3:41.62

As you can see, only two times in the past 12 years has the winner run 3:36 or faster. This year's Payton Jordan Invitational at Stanford on Friday, May 5, has the chance to be an outlier to that trend.

Athlete	Sponsor/School	PB Since Jan '16
Chris O'Hare	BAA	3:35.37
Eric Jenkins	Nike Oregon Project	3:35.94
Johan Rogestedt	Hälle IF	3:36.58
Izaic Yorks	Brooks Beast	3:37.74
Evan Jager	Bowerman TC	3:38.67
Robbie Fitzgibbon	Bizz-Sports	3:39.03
Adam Palamar	Syracuse	3:39.49
Thomas Riva	Unattached	3:39.99
Brannon Kidder	Brooks Beast	3:40.11
Daniel Castle	Pikes Peak Elite	3:40.16
Mac Fleet	Nike	3:40.20
Travis Burkstrand	Brooks ID	3:40.50

- Eric Jenkins has been on roll at the shorter distance winning the 5th Avenue Mile and the NYRR Wanamaker Mile.

- Chris O'Hare is a consistent World Championship 1500m qualifier.

- Izaic Yorks won this race last year.

- Johan Rogestedt has run 3:36.

- Evan Jager is an Olympic medalist, and let's not forget he is really good at surprising the world with some of his unexpected performances, most recently the 1500 at the Portland Track Festival back in 2015.

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