NEW YORK CITY, March 11-13 — California’s Newbury Park boys lived up to the considerable hype generated for their attempt at the national record in the 4 x mile at the New Balance Indoor Nationals, averaging just over 4:07 a leg to absolutely demolish the previous standard.
Aaron Sahlman (4:11.37) ran away from the field in the opening strides of the first leg and it immediately became a race against the clock. Twins Leo (4:06.85) and Lex Young (4:07.34) ran the middle sections before Colin Sahlman had to weave his way through an obstacle course of lapped runners on the anchor leg. He closed in 58.27 for his final quarter for a 4:03.74 split, breaking the tape in 16:29.31.
That obliterated the previous HSR of 17:01.81, set by Loudoun Valley (Purcellville, Virginia) in ’19. “It was hard to run by themselves from the gun,” Newbury Park coach Sean Brosnan said. “It’s tough to run those miles, low 4 minutes, on your own like that, going around traffic. But they handled it and it’s a national record by like 30 seconds. I’m happy with it.”
They ultimately lapped the entire field twice. “It’s tough to run by yourself, to pace yourself. I did a pretty good job of that, especially those last two laps,” said Colin Sahlman, who returned to the Armory a month after running 3:58.81 to move to No. 3 on the all-time indoor list. “The traffic actually helped a little bit, because you always have someone to pass, someone to set your eyes on instead of a blank track.”
The HSR also went down in the DMR, but by a much smaller margin. Ridge (Basking Ridge, NJ) clocked 9:53.40 to snip 0.01 off another Loudoun Valley record from ’19. Covering the 20 laps were Andrew McCabe (3:03.31), Patrick Doran (51.42), James Kisker (1:54.96) and Jackson Barna (4:03.71). Union Catholic (Scotch Plains, New Jersey) was close behind in 9:55.12, the No. 3 time ever.
The same Ridge quartet came back to win the 4×8 easily in 7:42.89 — just outside the all-time top 10 — with Kisker (1:52.98) running the fastest split of the day on the 3rd leg.
Justin Braun (Central, Westerville, Ohio) ripped a 46.21 to win the 400, becoming history’s No. 4 prep. “Couple of 47 guys here, we don’t really see that in Ohio, so this was the spark,” said Braun, who won State titles in the 60 and 200, but hadn’t run a 400 since last year’s outdoor season. He called his strategy of getting out fast (21.79), “aggressive… I definitely knew I was the guy to beat today. People were coming after me.” Braun, who heads for USC in the fall, doubled back the next day to win the 60 in 6.65.
William Jones (Blue Valley, Overland Park, Kansas) notched 46.76 for 2nd in the 400, sliding into the No. 11 spot on the all-time list.
Cade Flatt (Marshall, Benton, Kentucky) scored a bold wire-to-wire win in the 800 in 1:48.86, leaping to No. 3 on the all-time list. “I wanted to get out, I wanted to drag these guys into deep waters. I wanted to make it hurt and make them question why they were in this event,” the Ole Miss bound Flatt said.
“There was no tactics involved, it was just pedal to the metal. I’ve been walking around all weekend knowing I was going to win this thing, so there was no reason for anybody to be in front of me.”
The Sahlman brothers doubled back after the previous evening’s relay glory, with Colin 2nd in 1:50.90 and Aaron 5th overall in 1:53.29.
Gary Martin (Wood, Warminster, Pennsylvania) won the mile in 4:02.34 (No. 10 all-time performer) in a tight race that saw a quartet go under 4:03.1. They became the four fastest ever in a preps-only competition indoors.
NEW BALANCE BOYS RESULTS
60: 1. Justin Braun (Central, Westerville, Oh) 6.65 (6.19 HSL — =9,=12 HS);
2. Jaden Brown (Norristown, Pa) 6.68; 3. Jonas Clarke (South Hadley, Ma) 6.69.
200: 1. Shamali Whittle (Hamilton North-Nottingham, Hamilton, NJ) 21.08; 2. Fitzroy Ledgister (St Peter’s, Jersey City) 21.24; 3. *Nyckoles Harbor (Carroll, Washington, DC) 21.55.
400: 1. Braun 46.21 (HSL) (4, 5 HS);
2. William Jones (Blue Valley, Overland Park, Ks) 46.76 (11, x HS); 3. Jayson Ward (Bird, Chesterfield, Va) 47.70.
800: IV–1. Xavier Jemison (McLean, Va) 1:53.19; 2. *Alex Leath (Vestavia Hills, Al) 1:53.22.
V–1. Cade Flatt (Marshall, Benton, Ky) 1:48.86 (3, 3 HS);
2. Colin Sahlman (Newbury Park, Ca) 1:50.90; 3. *Aaron Sahlman (Newbury Park) 1:53.29.
Mile: V–1. Ference Kovacs’ (Woodberry Forest, Va) 4:07.51.
VI–1. Gary Martin (Wood, Warminster, Pa) 4:02.34 (10, 11 HS) (3:46.23—8, 9 HS); 2. Zane Bergen (Niwot, Co) 4:02.64 (11, 12 HS) (3:46.37—9, 10 HS); 3. James Donahue (Belmont Hill, Belmont, Ma) 4:02.66 (3:46.60); 4. Gavin Sherry (Conard, West Hartford) 4:02.69 (3:46.74) (first 4 are fastest HS-only races ever indoors);
5. Marco Langon (Bridgewater-Raritan, Bridgewater, NJ) 4:04.60 (3:48.67); 6. C.J. Singleton (Butler, Pa) 4:04.89 (3:47.97); 7. *Connor Burns (Southern Boone, Ashland, Mo) 4:05.83 (3:48.15); 8. Jackson Barna (Ridge, Basking Ridge, NJ) 4:06.93; 9. Shane Brosnan (Union Catholic, Scotch Plains, NJ) 4:07.22; 10. Riley Hough (Hartland, Mi) 4:07.38; 11. Myles Hogan (Fordham, Bronx) 4:07.53.
2M: IV–1. Nick Falk (New Trier, Winnetka, Il) 8:57.65.
V–1. G. Sherry 8:48.59 (HSL) (11, x HS) (8:15.93);
2. Callum Sherry (Conard) 8:50.60 (8:18.38);
3. Donahue 8:51.87 (8:17.61); 4. Aidan Puffer (Manchester, Ct) 8:52.33 (8:18.38); 5. *Sam Burgess (Framingham, Ma) 8:58.34.
5000: 1. Ethan Coleman (Olympia, Wa) 14:31.03; 2. *Zack Munson (Sehome, Bellingham, Wa) 14:35.39; 3. Burgess 14:41.49; 4. Krishna Thirunavukkarasu (Brebeuf, Indianapolis) 14:42.83.
60H: 1. *Andre Korbmacher (Squalicum, Bellingham, Wa) 7.70 (HSL) (7.17 HSL);
2. Thomas Smith (Calvert, Towson, Md) 7.77; 3. Benny Diaz (Saugatuck, Mi) 7.78; 4. Peter Djan (Potomac, Dumfries, Va) 7.80.
Heats: 1-1. Jason Holmes-Williamson (Calvert) 7.77 (HSL) (7.25 HSL).
MileW: 1. Ryan Allen (Kingsway, Woolwich Township, NJ) 7:12.00 (HSL);
2. Isaac Gray (Brighton, NY) 7:15.29; 3. *Clayton Stoil (Langley, McLean, Va) 7:17.11.
Relay Events
4 x 200: 1. Carroll 1:28.30; 2. Hayfield, Alexandria, Va 1:28.79; 3. Cornwall Central, New Windsor, NY 1:28.96.
4 x 400: 1. Seton Hall, West Orange, NJ 3:18.76; 2. Hall, West Hartford 3:21.58; 3. Vestavia Hills 3:21.73; 4. DeMatha, Hyattsville, Md 3:22.14.
4 x 800: 1. Ridge 7:42.89 (HSL) (15,x HS);
2. West, Springfield, Va 7:49.55; 3. Union Catholic 7:49.96; 4. IMG, Bradenton, Fl 7:50.49; 5. Holland-East Aurora, Holland, NY 7:50.79; 6. Staples, Westport, Ct 7:51.28.
4 x Mile: 1. Newbury Park 16:29.31 HSR, absolute HSR (old records 17:01.81 Loudoun Valley, Purcellville, Va ’19) (*Aaron Sahlman 4:11.37, *Leo Young 4:06.86, *Lex Young 4:07.34, Colin Sahlman 4:03.74);
2. Corning-Painted Post, Corning, NY 17:42.71; 3. Coffman, Dublin, Oh) 17:55.67.
SpMed: 1. Westfield, NJ 3:28.49 (HSL);
2. Union, NJ 3:30.91; 3. Scarborough, Me 3:32.33.
DisMed: 1. Ridge 9:53.40 HSR (old HSR 9:54.41 Loudoun Valley, Purcellville, Va ’05) (Andrew McCabe 3:03.31, *Patrick Doran 51.42, James Kisker 1:54.96, Jackson Barna 4:03.71) (in/out: 5 HS)
2. Union Catholic 9:55.12 (3 HS) (in/out: 8 HS) (Brosnan 4:04.62);
3. Loudoun Valley 10:07.22; 4. Corning-Painted Post 10:08.37.
4 x 55H: 1. Archbishop Carroll 30.84 (HSL).
Field Events
HJ: 1. Brion Stephens (Warren Central, Indianapolis) 6-11; 2. Lamont Victoria (Prince George, Va) 6-9.
PV: 1. Jack Vecellio (Frontier, South Deerfield, Ma) 16-6¾; 2. Dallin Thornton (Bingham, South Jordan, Ut) 16-6¾;
3. Justin Rogers (Hershey, Pa) 16-6¾; 4. Colton Rhodes (Cain, Houston) 16-6¾; 5. Beau Domingue (Hammond, La) 16-6¾.
LJ: 1. Alex Smith (Darby, Hilliard, Oh) 24-6¼; 2. *Ashton Torns (Westlake, Austin) 24-3½; 3. *Robert Handelsman (Woodberry Forest) 23-3¼.
TJ: 1. Donovan Young (Gilman, Baltimore) 48-11¾; 2. Montrell Covil (Norcom, Portsmouth, Va) 47-2¼.
SP: 1. Max Klein (Newton North, Newtonville, Ma) 65-3¼; 2. Tarik Robinson-O’Hagan (Woonsocket, RI) 65-2¼; 3. Joe Licata (Gill-St Bernard, Gladstone, NJ) 64-9¾; 4. Cade Moran (Murrieta Mesa, Murrieta, Ca) 63-10½.
Wt: 1. Robinson-O’Hagan 81-11½; 2. Michael Pinckney (CTEA, Ozone Park, NY) 75-3¼; 3. Gary Moore (Hillhouse, New Haven) 73-6¾; 4. Asher Robbins (Barrington, RI) 73-1¾.
Pent: 1. Lewis Barber (Haleyville, Al) 3577; 2. *Sam Fisher (Lipscomb, Nashville) 3344; 3. Thatcher Frankfather (Franklin Road, Nashville) 3305.