EUGENE, OREGON, April 19 — The Brooks Beasts put together a World Record in the distance medley at the Oregon Relays, with an effort of 9:14.58 taking down the old best of 9:15.50 that had been set by the U.S. team at the World Relay Championships in ’15.
With pace lights set for the record at the Friday evening event, the Beasts unfolded a strategy that had been about a month in the making, ever since coach Danny Mackey drew up the schedule. It ended up being a race against the clock from the start.
Brannon Kidder ran the leadoff three laps in 2:49.60; that put the team nearly 3 seconds ahead of the ’15 pace. “We knew a record was possible so we kind of had that in our minds,” he told Runnerspace. It just made the last month of training super fun.”
Brandon Miller covered his 400 segment in 46.60, handing off with 3.31-second margin ahead of the record. “When I saw Brannon do his 1200, it just hyped me up to do my job for the team.”
Next came Isaiah Harris, who ran his 2 laps in 1:45.75. The margin shrunk to 2.31. “It’s so fun,” he said. “It’s so rare we get to run relays these days and celebrate with our teammates.”
That left it all to miler Henry Wynne, who needed to cover 1600 in 3:53.54 to nip the record.
The Virginia alum, who placed 3rd in the USATF Indoor 1500, said he relied on the crowd noise and his coaches yelling splits. He covered the four laps in 3:52.63. “I knew that these guys had put in the work and I knew, when they handed off, we had talked about what I needed to give us a chance… I just got to work. It was an amazing feeling to run past the line and see 9:14.”