Jenny Simpson's First Race Since Injury Results In World Leader in Mile
Simpson Wins Mile In World Leading 4:28.60, As Phoebe Wright Dominated Women's 800 And Four Go Sub 4:00 In Men's Mile
*2011 New Balance Games Results
By David Monti.
(c) 2011 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved
January 22, 2011
NEW YORK -- Jenny Simpson's seven month layoff from competition
due to a hip injury appeared to have no ill effects on the 24 year-old
athlete at today's 16th New Balance Games at the Armory, a meet in which
athletes posted four world-leading times.
Simpson, who competed in the invitational mile, let pacemaker Lesley
Higgins do the work for the first four laps, running a few strides
behind when Higgins hit halfway in 2:16.3. After Higgins retired,
Simpson simply held her position in the second half of the race, holding
off challenges from Villanova alums Carmen Douma-Hussar (4:30.88) and
Frances Koons (4:31.53 PB) to win easily in a world-leading 4:28.60.
"Just like any season opener we went out a little easy," said Simpson,
who had never competed before at the Armory. She continued: "When she
(the pacemaker) stepped off the track I was like, alright, this is where
the race starts. I really wanted to negative split, and I'm really
happy."
Last year's NCAA 800m champion for Tennessee, Phoebe Wright, didn't run a
world leader in the invitational 800m but she came close. Off of a
58-second opening 400m, Wright held off Heidi Dahl in the final meters
to run a USA-leading 2:00.39 She ran the last 200m in 30.6 seconds.
"It was a really good effort," Wright told reporters. "I'm really
pleased with it, pleased with how it felt. I'm pleased with the
result."
Dahl (2:01.80) and LaTavia Thomas (2:01.81) both clocked personal best
indoor times in second and third place, respectively. Maggie Vessey
finished fourth in 2:03.40, and high-schooler Claudia Francis ran
2:10.08 in eighth place.
Craig Miller, the former Wisconsin Badger, won the men's invitational
mile in 3:59.10, this season's first sub-four effort. Miller passed
Canada's Taylor Milne with 300m to go to take the lead for good,
splitting the final 200m in 28.3 seconds.
"It was my first race of the season, so I wasn't really sure what to
expect," Miller said. "But I know I was in good shape based off of my
training. So, I just wanted to go out there, follow the person in front
of me, and not think too much."
Milne finished second in 3:59.34, an indoor personal best, former
Stanford runner Garrett Heath got third in 3:59.58, and fourth place Rob
Novak scored his first ever sub-four finish in 3:59.70. Milne may have
run his way into the Millrose Games because today's mile winner earned
an invitation to the Wanamaker Mile, provided he broke four minutes.
Miller, who soon leaves for Australia, can't accept the invitation so
the spot is Milne's for the taking, according to the Armory's Jack
Pfeifer.
In other action, the invitational 400m races were won by Amy Natasha Hastings in
a world-leading 52.29, and Michael Courtney in 47.19. The high school
miles, in which the top-2 finishers earned Millrose Games berths, were
won by Chad Noelle of Green H.S. (4:11.64) and Angel Piccirillo of Homer
Center H.S. in 4:56.52. The elite men's 1500m, essentially an overflow
race from the invitational mile, was won by Kyle Miller in 3:41.99,
another early world-leader.
In addition to the invitational events, some 5000 high schoolers competed in the meet's open sections which lasted some 8 hours.
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