Track and Field Blogs - Justin Kopunek

As part of the sport of track and field, most of us have resigned to the fact that beyond family and friends, a track meet will rarely draw a crowd. There are, however, a few competitions that contradict this very notion. Some have the right location, like the Prefontaine Classic. Some have major media attention, like the Olympics. And some have history, like the Penn Relays Carnival and the Millrose Games. The latter celebrated its 102nd running this past weekend and there was no shortage of excitement echoing throughout Madison Square Garden.

The meet begins with some high school 4x400's, master's races, and race walking, but slowly turns up the intensity with the higher profile races. In the college relays, Seton Hall won both the men's and women's 4x400s. The Pirate's did not have as much luck in the college 4x800. With 1:47 open senior Rob Novak sitting out, SHU seemed to be one leg short, as the gap was far to big for anchor James Gurr, who provisionally qualified for the NCAA 800 already this season, to close. Instead the race became a battle between 2 other Big East teams and 2 Ivy League teams. Villanova, Georgetown, Cornell and Columbia exchanged leads throughout the race. Columbia would open up a gap on the field during the third leg, but a strong, patient anchor leg from Villanova broke the tape first. The Wildcat relay, book-ended by twin brothers Sean and Dan Tully (who in HS broke the indoor 4x800 national record at Syosset) and sophomores Matt Wikler and Jason Apwah on the middle legs, ran 7:35 for the victory. Cornell's hard closing anchor, Jimmy Wyner, nabbed a close second.

The Games have a heavy focus on the mile, having 4 premier miles dispersed throughout the meet. In the women's mile, Kara Goucher asserted herself as the leader early and never looked back. The pack was never able to reel her in and Goucher, who won this event last year, defended her title in a quick 4:33. A few of my friends commented, "Isn't she a marathoner?" before the race. I had to remind them that she was running the 5,000 in Beijing only 5 months ago. Bernard Lagat was also a repeat winner in the men's Wanamaker Mile, but he has won 6 previous years, last year included. Lagat's seventh victory in the Wanamaker Mile tied Irishman Eamonn Coghlan's record for wins in the event. Coghlan's dominance of the event earned him the title, "Chairman of the Boards." Lagat out dueled Olympic Bronze medalist Nick Willis, who finished 3rd here last year, 3:58 to 3:59 to become "co-Chairman." It should be noted that to make history in such a historic race is quite a feat.

In the High School girl's mile there was a third repeat champ in Southern Regional's Jillian Smith. Her victory in 4:51 made it the 4th consecutive year a Southern Regional HS athlete won the event, as teammate Danielle Tauro won in '06 and '07. In the High School boy's mile, Manalapan senior, Robby Andrews made it a NJ sweep, winning in 4:17. He was the only non-repeat mile winner of the night, as Andrews finished second in the race a year ago. This year's runner-up was Ocean City's Brett Johnson. The two competitors, who are friends off the track, were decked out in UVA gear together after the race. They have both verbally committed to Virginia. The future looks to be bright for both of these young runners, as past champions include Mike Stahr and Chris Lukezic and past runners-up include John Trautmann and Bobby Lockhart. The other headlining HS races are the Millrose main-stay CHSAA 4x800 and recently added Border Clash 4x800. The former saw Fordham Prep take home yet another title. After taking the lead on the third leg, Fordham anchor, Mike Jennings, used Manzano-esque race tactics, allowing Monsignor Farrell to get back into the race, only before kicking hard to victory in 8:05. The Border Clash matched up US#1 Morris Hills, NJ against US#2 Albemarle, VA. The Virginia school's lead off, Zach Vrhovac opened a huge gap on the US leaders, which the New Jersey school was never able to close. Albemarle won the race 7:54 to 8:03. Being that the track is a slow, undersized track, 7:54 is quite a fast time and only a second off the meet's HS record. This Virginia team is the real deal and could make a run at the HSR.

The other major high school news of the night was Seton Hall Prep, NJ standout Clayton Parros running in the Men's Open 600y Dash. The senior finished in 1:12.64, just behind Trinidadian Olympians and in front of NCAA All-American Reuben McCoy. In the other open events of the night, Monica Hargrove won the Women's 600y Dash, Terrence Trammell won the 60HH (7.45), Texas frosh phenom turned pro Bianca Knight topped Muna Lee in the 60m (7.23) and Michael Rodgers won the Men's 60m (6.51) as Travis Padgett was DQed after the race had 2 false starts.

The meet puts a huge emphasis on the field events in the arena, creating some of the meet's best moments. The track portion is put on pause for the shot put. Center stage, the world's best throwers battle and pump up the crowd. In typical fashion, Adam Nelson's WWE like routine in which he yanks off his shirt always gets the fans going before he launched the shot 20.79m for the win on the last attempt of the evening. Christian Cantwell finished 2nd with Reese Hoffa 3rd. Amy Acuff won her 5th Millrose High Jump title and 2008 Olympic Silver Medalist Jenn Stuczynski topped 2000 Olympic Gold Medalist Stacy Dragila with a 15'5 1/2" clearance in the Pole Vault.

The performance of the evening, however, came from 2008 Olympic Pole Vault Champ Steve Hooker. The Aussie won the event by over a foot. He hit an Australian and meet record height of 19'8 1/2'. Hooker went on to attempt a world record clearance at 20'2 1/2", but narrowly missed. Regardless, the crowd was quite excited, yelling the "Aussie, Aussie, Aussie" cheer.

I have been lucky enough to attend 4 Millrose Games and the 102nd edition did not disappoint. It is a track and field experience that few meets in the US can rival. If you are ever in the NYC area around Millrose time, make it a priority to catch it at least once. If you do not believe me, take it from Kara Goucher who said after her race, "I love New York. It's a great city. I didn't start racing in New York until last year, and I didn't know what I was missing."