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| | Portland Track Festival
Lewis and Clark College, Portland OR
Saturday June 13, 2009
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| | Fleet's 4:02.90 leads fastest HS-only mile since '97
| RESULTS
PHOTOS
VIDEO
Preview
Meet Schedule
Prior Years
2008
Official Meet website | 
Mac Fleet (University City CA) leads Robby Andrews (Manalapan NJ) into the final turn of the HS Invitational Mile.
Photo by Curt Hawkinson
Race Story
by Dave Devine, DyeStat senior editor
Photos by Curt Hawkinson
For Mac Fleet, Robby Andrews and the other high school milers assembled Saturday night in Portland, Oregon, for the Portland Track Festival Invitational Mile, the cards were on the table before they ever toed the line.
The results of the Midwest Distance Gala mile, which took place two hours earlier in Lisle IL, were announced to the grandstand and the runners just prior to the 8:55 pm start of the Portland race. They knew Andrew Springer of Rhode Island had won the Gala race in a US#1 4:02.70, and they knew the names and times of the two finishers who followed Springer across the line. In an internet age where news travels fast, the Portland field was excited to not only take a shot at breaking four minutes for the mile, but also to top a time run halfway across the country the same night. After an opening 880 that was slower than planned, both goals proved out of reach, but Fleet’s 4:02.90 win over Andrews’ 4:03.49 runner-up, followed by Trevor Dunbar’s 4:06.65 third place effort, nonetheless delivered the fastest high school-only mile in twelve years. Not since Sharif Karie (4:02.01), Gabe Jennings (4:03.27), Jonathan Riley (4:05.72), and Ryan Travis (4:06.11) locked up at the 1997 National Scholastic Outdoor Champs has a group of high schoolers run as fast without benefit of collegians or elites to lead the way.
 Elliot Jantzer (right), a state champion in Oregon’s 4A classification multiple times for Phoenix HS, was designated to pace the group through 880 yards, but he looked uncomfortable in that role from the beginning. Glancing back twice through the opening turn, he was clearly trying to establish a pace to meet the needs of the field, but never quite fell into that groove. Crossing 440 in 62-seconds and continuing to lead an increasingly antsy pack fronted by Fleet through the second lap, Jantzer stepped from the track having split 2:04 through 880.
Fleet took over from there, but already knew the possibilities of a sub-4 race had slipped away.
“I put my faith in Jantzer,” he said, “and he did a nice job, but it was slow. Two-oh- four at the half? We can’t do that.”
Andrews, running a stride behind, was less troubled by the pace and simply hoping to cover Fleet’s acceleration as the tall Californian powered to the lead.
“I was hoping that it wasn't going to be 1:58 or 1:59 like they were saying,” Andrews said. “I was hoping for 2:02 - 2:03. We were 2:04 - 2:05, so I was alright with that. It might have been a little too slow for what we were trying to do, but I wasn't really complaining.” As they curled into the third lap, he recalled thinking, “Okay, I'm ready to get going now. I know Fleet is going to make a move, so I have to be ready to hold on to him.”
Andrews maintained contact through the penultimate 440, while behind him Dunbar, Elijah Greer, Collin Jarvis and Adam Thorne, a late addition to the field, jockeyed for position.
Fleet leads into the final lap
At the bell—reached in 3:04.5 after Fleet burned a 60-flat third lap—he turned the screws even tighter and only Andrews could hang down the backstretch.
With 220 to go, the Manalapan NJ standout edged out, initiating a long kick he admitted afterward might have been better left until the final straight.
 “I was stuck on the white line,” Andrews said. “I was trying to tuck in, but I moved and at that point I was like 'Ah man, I'm outside of him now.' I tried to sneak back in, but at that point I was already in full flight so it was hard to change gears.”
Andrews catapulted out of the turn, but Fleet used his long limbs to devastating effect down the homestretch to hold off the feared kicker from New Jersey.
Fleet knew a challenger had roared to his shoulder, he just wasn’t certain of the identity.
“I knew it was either [Andrews] or Greer, I didn’t know for sure. I felt him come up, but I feel like I have as strong a kick as anyone, especially when the race is fast. This is the second week in a row I’ve gone sub-2 at the end…I felt him on my shoulder and I knew it was time to get it into the next gear.”
Andrews joked afterwards that he’d promised his Jersey buddy Brett Johnson that he’d get “a little revenge” on Fleet for a Nike Indoor Nationals mile defeat Johnson suffered after some elbow exchanges with Fleet sent Johnson tumbling, but he wasn’t able to make good on the promise in the face of Fleet’s daunting drive.
“I tried to go again with 100 to go,” Andrews said, “but I already went, so I didn't have anything. If I stuck behind him and waited until about 80 meters to go, maybe it would have been a little different, maybe it would have been a little closer, but he ran a great race.”
Fleet crossed in US#2 4:02.90, just two-tenths off Springer’s Distance Gala mark from earlier in the night, while Andrews barreled through in 4:03.49 and Dunbar distanced Greer in the final furlong for a big 4:06.65 personal record. Greer hung on for fourth in 4:08.08, and Ferris WA junior Adam Thorne impressed with a 4:10.05 fifth place effort.
What might have been
Fleet was happy with the win, but wondered if an opportunity to add his name to the short list of US preps to go sub-4 might have slipped his grasp.
“I really felt [sub-4] was in there if the pace had been faster at the beginning, because I wasn’t really tying up at the end. I would have been right there. If the first 800 had been on, I would have been damn close.”
Andrews, who spent nearly a half hour in the medical tent after an effort that clearly left him red-lined, was upbeat about the outcome once he’d recovered.
“I knew it was a great field,” he said. “I had a lot of respect for them. We were all here for the same reason. We came up a little short but throughout the whole race we were all going for it no matter what. We came up a little short, but we still ran fast... It would have been nice to go under four, but hey, 4:03—that's unbelievable.”
Judging from the camaraderie on the infield after the race, as various members of the elite field chatted, cooled down together and assembled for photos, the night was about far more than chasing a fast time.
“It was awesome here,” Fleet said, tempering his disappointment. “Perfect weather…you couldn’t ask for anything more. Crowd was great, all the athletes were great.”
Invitational Mile Results
1) Mac Fleet CA - 4:02.90
2) Robby Andrews NJ - 4:03.49
3) Trevor Dunbar AK - 4:06.65
4) Elijah Greer OR - 4:08.08
5) Adam Thorne WA - 4:10.05
6) Collin Jarvis CA - 4:12.02
7) Shane Moskowitz WA - 4:16.81
8) Mack Young WA - 4:17.71
9) Kenny Krotzer WA - 4:18.36
Kayleigh Tyerman burns a US#6 1500
Another impressive high school performance was turned in by Crater OR senior Kayleigh Tyerman, who ran in the open women’s 1500 and blazed a US#6 mark of 4:29.39. The time was a new personal best and solidified her OR #1 and NW#1 rankings.
“I've had steady improvement,” Tyerman said of the outdoor season. “After state this is really cool, and a good way to make sure I am in shape for nationals.”
The prospect of racing an elite field and finding herself in the middle of the pack was a change for the Oregon 5A 1500 and 3000 champion. “It is pretty nice to be up front,” she said. “I got used to it. Competition can really get in your head and break you a little bit. I had to really work on it this race and not let it get to me; it was a good learning experience.”
The Cal Poly San Luis Obispo signee credits her improvement to a strong program at Crater, as well as “consistency and really keeping your mind on it. I never thought that winning state would be for me. As a freshman, I was just hoping to maybe one day run in college. It has always been my dream to be the old lady running in the road races.”
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Preview: Nation's top three 800 runners set to collide in Portland mile
With the announcement Friday afternoon that Lake Oswego OR senior Elijah Greer will be joining the field, the invitational mile becomes a captivating showdown-within-a-showdown, pitting the #1 and #2 ranked 800 men in the high school ranks at an off distance. Indoor 800m and 1000m record holder Robby Andrews (Manalapan NJ senior), currently ranked US#1 in the 800 at 1:48.66, travels west to face Greer, #4 all-time in the 800 with his 1:47.68 from last year, and currently US#2 at 1:48.97. Both are more than proven at two laps, though somewhat less proven at four. Greer is US#1 in the 1500 with his 3:50.56 from the Oregon 6A State Meet, while Andrews won every mile he entered last winter (with a best of 4:12.31 at the Eastern States), and split 4:06.2 on anchor for his high school’s DMR at the Penn Relays, but has made no serious four-lap attempts outdoors this year. Both have killer closing kicks and both could be serious threats to win, but the reality is that only one participant brings a 4-lap PR under 4:10 into the race, and that is University City CA star Mac Fleet. - Dave Devine's FULL PREVIEW
Read the Robby Andrews Preview - Robby Andrews has been hoping to find a hot mile to jump into all season to see how low he can go. The senior from Manalapan, NJ has gotten his wish. - Full Jim Lambert story
| | | Meet Schedule
Friday, June 12
Open House
6-7:30 Open House / Packet Pick-Up
The track will be open until 7pm and refreshments served inside the Pamplin Center.
Check out the track, meet the competition, stay for the elite distance competition.
Track Events
7:30 Women's 10K
8:15 Men's 10K
8:35 Men's 5K (fast heat)
Saturday, June 13
Session One - Youth-Open-Masters
Session One events will follow a single schedule with heats progressing from youth to open to masters. The clerk-of-course will combine heats as appropriate.
Track
8:45 3000
9:15 4x800m Relay (Youth and HS in Session 2)
9:40 4x100m Relay
10:15 Racewalk (800, 1500, 3000)
11:05 1500 (Youth seeded heat in Session 2)
11:45 400 (Youth seeded heat in Session 2)
12:40 100
1:30 Hurdles (80, 100, 110)
1:45 800
2:50 2000m Steeplechase
3:20 200m
4:10 200m hurdles
4:15 400m hurdles
4:30 4x400 Relay
Field
9:30 Long Jump - Bantam, Midget, Youth
9:30 Shot Put - Bantam, Midget
Youth and older at Concordia*
9:30 Discus - Midget, only.
Youth and older at Concordia *
10:00 Javelin - Bantam, Midget
Youth and older at Concordia *
10:00 Pole Vault - Youth, Intermediate, Young
1:00 Long Jump - Intermediate, Young, Open and Masters
12:00 High Jump - Intermediate, Young, Open and Masters
1:30 High Jump - Bantam, Midget, Youth
Triple Jump - Follows Long Jump
1:00 Departure for Concordia University Throws Center
2:00 Throws Center Competitions Begins.*
* Throws events for Open, Masters, Youth, Intermediate and Young age groups will be contested at the Concordia University Throws Center. Olympians Mac Wilkins and Tom Petranoff will officiate. Transportation to and from the Throws Center is available courtesy of Concordia University.
Session Two - Twilight Invitational Events
Track
5:30 Prediction Mile - presented by Foot Traffic
5:45 Women's 5000m - Presented by Team Athena
6:10 Youth Girls' SubFive 1500m
6:20 Youth Boys' SubFive Mile
6:30 Youth Girls' Invitational 400m
6:35 Youth Boys' Invitational 400m
6:40 Open Men's 400m
6:45 Open Women's 400m
6:50 Masters Women's 3000m
7:05 Open Women's 1500
7:15 High School Girls' 1500
7:25 Women's Steeplechase - presented by Bowerman AC
7:40 Men's Steeplechase
8:00 Open Men's 100m
8:05 Open Women's 100m
8:10 Oregon Invitational Masters' Mile
8:20 Open Men's 5000m
8:40 HS/Club 4x800 Relay preented by 4x800 Relay.org
9:10 High School Boys' Invitational Mil
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