New England Defends Their Turf
Personal bests are usually the product of fast races; ones where the pack stays intact and the quality of the field is equally matched. These are races that high profile athletes dream of, and the 2011 New Balance Indoor Grand Prix created such a scenario with their Junior Invitational Mile. The region’s best milers were on hand, and the added excitement of team scoring did not disappoint the capacity crowd at the Reggie Lewis Center Saturday evening.
The top 10 in the boy’s race were separated by a mere 6 second; led by race winner Miles Schoedler of Ocean City High School, NJ. His time of 4:16.92 is the #12 time in the country but was just over a second off his season best of 4:15.76 set last month at the Hispanic Games in New York. Finishing second was Tom Awad (4:17.68) followed by the top five runners of the New England team. Robert Allen (4:17.70), Josh Lampron (4:17.91), Daniel Nestor (4:18.75), John Murray (4:19.75), and Shayne Collins (4:20.67) combined for 32 total points and a 6 point win for the New England team.
In the girl’s race, Lindsey Crevoiserat continued her winning ways, clocking in at 4:52.60 and leading wire-to-wire. Her time is the 4th fastest in the nation this year, but is still over 3 seconds away from her US#1 of 4:49.53 set last month at the Millrose Games Trials in New York. Katrina Coogan (4:54.69) and Andrea Keklak (4:56.22) completed the sweep for the New England Team who won by a 36 to 22 point margin. Emily De La Bruyere and Kathy O’Keefe completed the list of runners to post sub 5 minute times, running 4:58.09 and 4:58.51 respectively.
Foot Locker National Cross Country Champion and Gatorade National Cross Country Athlete of the Year Lukas Verzbicas was invited to mix it up with the big boys in the hopes that the United States would see another prep star run sub 4 minutes for a full mile. The first part happened, unfortunately, the second part did not. Although he may not have achieved his goal, Verzbicas showed why he is the most dominant high school distance runner in the country. His time of 4:03.88 is US#3 All-Time indoors behind Alan Webb's 3:59.86 and Thom Hunts 4:02.7.
