Efraimson wins second junior national title in 1,500 meters

Alexa Efraimson won her second national junior title in the 1,500 meters Sunday in Clovis, Calif.

The Camas runner, who also won in 2014, outlasted Christina Aragon to win at the USA Track and Field Junior Outdoor Championships.

Efraimson and Aragon, a Stanford-bound high school senior from Montana, pulled away from the pack with two laps to go. Efraimson won in 4 minutes, 16.75 seconds with Aragon just over a second behind.

Efraimson ran the last 800 meters in 2:07, according to USA Track and Field.

By finishing in the top two, Efraimson qualified for the IAAF World U20 Championships July 19-24 in Bydgoszcz, Poland.

Efraimson, a University of Portland freshman who runs professionally for Nike, also plans to run at the U.S. Olympic Trials July 1-10 in Eugene, Ore.

Efraimson will make her second trip to the U20 world championships, formally known as the World Junior Championships. She finished sixth in the 1,500 meters in 2014.