Millrose Games

I would begin the blog with an introductory post, however with the interesting events of the last weekend, I will jump right in. The 109th Millrose Games featured some amazing performances, especially in the high school races. Pennsylvania had a great showing. This season, State College has not performed anywhere close to last year in the 4x8. They barely entered the Millrose games with an 8:05. Not surprising based on personal bests, they went on to best that performance by 14 seconds. However, many would not have guessed that they could have walked away with the Eastern States title. Their lead off, Owen Wing, was boxed off from the start but moved up throughout his leg to a nice 1:59 split. He is new to the relay and shows the depth State College has in the 800. The remaining three legs are returners from last year's 7:41 team. Wing handed off to cross country state medalist Nick Feffer, who kept their position and laid down a monster kick to put State College in the lead with 1:56. Anthony Degleris started slow, but finished strong in a similar split time as Wing. Alex Milligan chilled on the first two laps of his leg, and sensing pressure from West Islip, the best team in the nation, tactically surged to the win.

Jaxson Hoey of Downingtown West has had a phenomenal indoor season off of his sour Nike Cross Nationals performance. He came to Millrose with a 4:12 personal best, and many expected him to be one of the top contenders. New York guys definitely dominated the field. Connor Lundy of Fordham Prep was a major favorite, as well as Aidan Tooker of Saratoga Springs. Usually the winner of the high school mile is from the east coast. However, Isaac Cortes from Great Oak, California narrowly won the mile cruising past Noah Affolder and the other New Yorkers. Jaxson placed 5th with a time of 4:11.

However, this was not the highlight of high school miles for the meet. Drew Hunter is starting to become somewhat of a household name. He ran 14:20 in cross country early in the fall. He won Footlocker Nationals by a sizable margin. Although he ran some very impressive times last year in track, it wasn't until he broke 8 minutes in the 3k that he really showed his strength. Just one week later he went back to become only the second high school guy to break 4 minutes in the mile indoors. He broke Alan Webb's American record of 3:59 at the Armory invitational. Just 2 weeks later he did it again running 3:57 in the "B" elite mile at the Millrose Games. And to top it off, he had a cold leading into, and during the race. The mile that is usually the highlight of the meet, the Wanamaker Mile, was very similar to last year. Matt Centrowitz clinched the title dueling with Nick Willis on the final lap. Track and Field has never been more exciting!