Brendan Fennell
Pearl River NY senior

Carmen Mims
Mercy Academy Louisville KY soph

Brendan Fennell's most impressive victory of the season doesn't show on DyeStat Elite performance lists because it came at the Manhattan Invitational on the 2.5 mile course at Van Cortlandt Park in New York City. That distance may not be standard now, but it has a long history of great runners and Fennell joined them with the 13th best time in the 30 years of the Manhattan meet. Fennell came home through rain and mud in 12:30.2, the fastest time seven varsity races by 12 seconds, and old hands said he would have run a top 5 Manhattan time on a dry day.

Fennell, a 4:11 miler last spring, is the third ranking returnee in the Foot Locker Northeast, but he is looking like the favorite for this year's regional November 30 on the 5k course at VCP.

Fennell's DyeStat Elite performances
16:04 5k, 1 @ Section NY 11/1/2002
14:57 3.0m, 1 @ Suffern Inv NY 9/21/2002
15:30 3.05m, @ William & Mary VA 10/5/2002

Carmen Mims is the leader of a brilliant young threesome that is dominating the Blue Grass State. They are three former Louisville elementary school teammates: Mims and Sacred Heart's Maddie Schueler and Leah Ryan. When they squared off in the Academy Invitational, all three destroyed the old course record by 30 seconds as Mims was forced to run sub-18 minutes to win. Louisville writer Charles Zimmerman called it the fastest 1-2-3 finish in Kentucky since the state adopted the 5000 meter distance for girls.

Mims' DyeStat Elite performances
17:59 5k - 1 @ Academy Inv KY 10/22/2002
18:00 5k - 1 @ Valkyrie Classic KY 9/21/2002
18:56 5k - 1 @ Shelby County KY 9/23/2002

Honorable Mention
Alphabetical order - Includes meets through October 15