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For many years, the top athletes in track and field would travel the United States during the winter months, competing on tiny, 11-lap-to-the- mile wooden tracks. Cities like Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Los Angeles and San Francisco, to name a few, would forget about basketball and hockey for one night and convert their major downtown arenas into a three-ring track and field circus. Slowly through the 1980’s and 90’s, for different reasons, these meets began to disappear, until only New York’s Millrose Games survived.
Each year, one of the highlights of the Millrose Games is the High School Invitational Mile for boys and girls. In order to earn a place on the starting line, athletes must run a time that will get the attention of the race selection committee. This year, DyeStat will follow five runners as they try to earn an invitation to the February 1st race. Below, you'll find blogs from some of the rising stars in US high school distance running.
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BESTS - 2:14 (800 meters)
4:27 (1500 m)
9:37 (3000m)
2-time Foot Locker Finalist
2-time State XC Champ
Plans to attend Penn State
Next Race: Millrose Games HS invitational mile
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BESTS - 1:56 (800 split)
2:31 (1000 m)
4:15.95 (mile)
8:37 (3000 m)
9:28.89(2 mile)
1st Emerging Elite Mile NON 2007
NY Class A XC Champ
Verbally committed to Columbia
Next Race: Millrose Games HS invitational mile
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BESTS - 2:12 (800 split)
4:36 (1500 m)
4:54 (1600 m)
10:00 (3000 m)
6:44 (2000 m Steeple)
3-time Foot Locker finalist
National Record 4 x Mile
National soph record - 2k Steeple
11-time All-American
Next Race: Millrose Games HS invitational mile |
BESTS - 2:07.7 (800 split)
2:51.2 (1000)
4:30.0 (1500)
4:47.2 (1600-split)
10:33.8 (3200)
NSIC 4x800 Champion Verbally committed to Stanford
Next Race: Millrose Games HS invitational mile
| Vince McNally
Sr - Conestoga Valley, PA
BESTS - 1:55.64 (800)
4:08.99 (mile)
9:23.99 (3200)
15:02 (5k XC)
2007 PA State Champ 1600
6th/All-American NON Mile
District 3 XC Champ
2007 Footlocker Finalist
Next Race: Millrose Games HS invitational mile |
Dead legs = Difficult race
Millrose Games was a great meet. The Wannamaker mile was very exciting. The Junior boys mile was also great to watch. Merber certainly represented NY and the bloggers well. My race was... less than memorable, but better than last week, so what can I say? It certainly couldn't have been worse than I ran at BIG so I only had one way to go. Honestly I felt almost exactly the same as I did at Boston. My legs were dead early and never got better. At least this week I sat back and was able to work up a little. At one point it seemed like I would be able to move up more, but I had nothing. MORE
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Just as I had always dreamed it...
I knew Robby Andrews has a blistering kick over the last 200 meters, so I just wanted to get the first jump. Although the pain and discomfort were unbelievable, I just reminded myself of that corny saying, "Pain is temporary, but pride is forever." I was fighting through it the whole last lap, like I was trying to catch someone, and I didn't notice until the last step that I had it. I crossed the line and just looked around in disbelief. I looked into the crowd and I saw a ton of people yelling and clapping. I was in complete euphoria and I just put my hands in my head wondering to myself, "What did I just do?!?!" MORE
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That 'so-heavy-I-can't-lift-my-legs' feeling
During my warm up I felt fine, but during the race, once I hit the 1000m, my legs just didn’t have it. I got pushed straight to the back in the beginning of the race, but didn’t panic because I knew I had time to work my way to the front. I think I ran the beginning of the race very smart. I reacted and covered moves and tried to get myself in a good position. And then I went to cover another move and my legs just couldn’t respond. When I don't have it, my legs and stride get very flat-footed and heavy. It wasn’t like a tired or sore pain, it was that, so-heavy-I-can't-lift-my-legs feeling. MORE
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Goal: Get out hard
We got there a few hours early, so I just relaxed for a while until it was time to warm up. Usually I'm really nervous before big races, but that wasn't the case on Friday. I was so excited to run, knowing that it would be my last Millrose Games. So many of my friends and family came to watch me; it was amazing to have so many people there. For the race, my goal was to just get out hard. In the last few races I've found myself getting out slow and wasting energy trying to get to the front (plus I didn't want Shelby to phlegm on me). MORE
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Looking at the long term
During the race I just wanted to hang out at the back and get pulled along for as long as possible. It was a good thing, since my buddy Nick got a little ahead of himself and pulled us through somewhere around 60. I guess Peter Dorrell took over and did us a favor by putting a little slack in the pace for the next half-mile. As the last quarter came up, the one fella from Danbury slipped back and I moved ahead of him. My mistake at Millrose came right after that. I should've started an assault on the main pack instead of hanging back until 3 laps to go. MORE
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