Ben Saarel over Bernie Montoya again in Mt Sac mile. 54-mid last lap

and what's going on there at drake hs with two guys, unrelated, placing well in 4:13/15 (and with a Redwood HS runner in between)! Drake never had such a strong program when I was running in Marin County. Drake had a 9:39 guy my senior year and Redwood would occasionally have a sub 4:20 guy (their record for 2M was a strong 8:53 from, I think, the late 1970s, Rod Berry).

Bernie did what the other Bernie did at Trials 5000 and let Saarel just have the inside. Not sure it decided the outcome though, as Saarel came ripping through on the final straight, but it certainly wouldn't have been as easy if he had needed to swing wide.

superawesomness wrote:

http://www.mtsacrelays.com/results13.html

So this guy kicks away from one of the best kickers in high school for the second time.

2:10 first 800m, 1:58 last 800m.

4:08 to 4:09

That's pretty ridiculous.

Since they give the 400m splits and the last 9+m, the last 809.3m is 1:58.025, while the (almost last) 800 was 1:56.74. There were some pretty good races for the next guys as well, about one per second for the top 11.

1 Ben Saarel Park City 4:08.55

1:05.144 (1:05.144) 2:10.523 (1:05.379) 3:12.926 (1:02.404) 4:07.280 (54.354) 4:08.548 (1.269)

2 Bernie Montoya Birmingham 4:09.18

1:05.324 (1:05.324) 2:10.618 (1:05.294) 3:13.052 (1:02.435)

4:07.832 (54.780) 4:09.175 (1.344)

3 Andy Trouard Salpointe Catholic 4:10.91

1:05.741 (1:05.741) 2:10.827 (1:05.086) 3:13.300 (1:02.473)

4:09.517 (56.218) 4:10.901 (1.384)

4 Blake Haney Stockdale 4:12.26

1:05.401 (1:05.401) 2:10.737 (1:05.337) 3:12.837 (1:02.101)

4:10.727 (57.890) 4:12.251 (1.524)

5 Johnny Lawson Sir Francis Drake 4:13.15

1:05.036 (1:05.036) 2:10.127 (1:05.092) 3:13.164 (1:03.037)

4:11.754 (58.590) 4:13.143 (1.389)

6 Frederick Huxham Redwood (Larkspur) 4:15.63

1:05.555 (1:05.555) 2:10.796 (1:05.242) 3:13.390 (1:02.594)

4:14.190 (1:00.800) 4:15.627 (1.438)

7 Clayton Hutchins Sir Francis Drake 4:15.87

1:05.354 (1:05.354) 2:10.197 (1:04.843) 3:13.111 (1:02.915)

4:14.345 (1:01.235) 4:15.870 (1.525)

My mistake.

Race video:

http://www.flotrack.org/coverage/250619-2013-Mt-Sac-Relays/video/706463-B-Mile-H01-Invite-Saarel-Montoya-battle

54 low. Possibly the fastest last 400 for a high level HS race ever.

Bernardo will get him at the Dream Mile. Mark my words. Anyway, he's going to ASU, so who cares...Will burn out by his soph year never amounting to anything. Should have picked Colorado or NAU.

in the mile probably....

Webb closed in 53.low in a 3:45 1500m heat win at USAs his senior year. probably had more in him then as it was prelims.

but in a mile, 54.35y is definitely the fastest i know of...

Superawesomeness indeed. Both can Break 4.

healthy wrote:

in the mile probably....

Webb closed in 53.low in a 3:45 1500m heat win at USAs his senior year. probably had more in him then as it was prelims.

but in a mile, 54.35y is definitely the fastest i know of...

Also, USAs are not a "high level high school race".

healthy wrote:

in the mile probably....

Webb closed in 53.low in a 3:45 1500m heat win at USAs his senior year. probably had more in him then as it was prelims.

but in a mile, 54.35y is definitely the fastest i know of...

Note that it is a 400m split, in a mile race.

Credit is due wrote:

54 low. Possibly the fastest last 400 for a high level HS race ever.

You are probably right. Alan Webb ran a 4:06 in his HS regional meet coming back going out in 2:14 but probably was an even paced last half in 56 pace.

Roman Gomez ran 55.0 to win the California State Meet in 1985 and that was crazy at the time. I don't think the final time was much faster than 4:15 though.

54 low I have never heard of in a mile race for a high schooler.

You very rarely see the best American miler run faster than 53.5 seconds to win a U.S. championship race even in a 3:45 1500.

Didn't look spent immediately after the race. EPO?

ahhhh yea so? wrote:

Bernardo will get him at the Dream Mile. Mark my words. Anyway, he's going to ASU, so who cares...Will burn out by his soph year never amounting to anything. Should have picked Colorado or NAU.

I agree he would be better off at Colorado or NAU

IOS wrote:

I agree he would be better off at Colorado or NAU

False. Montoya is a miler and he has a great future in the event. CU and NAU are not optimal training grounds for milers, especially during the part of the season where speed needs to be finely tuned. I don't doubt he'd still flourish at either school, but he's still relatively untapped and will do well in a program where he can work on both speed and strength. He'll do well at ASU.

riley stops wrote:

IOS wrote:

I agree he would be better off at Colorado or NAU

False. Montoya is a miler and he has a great future in the event. CU and NAU are not optimal training grounds for milers, especially during the part of the season where speed needs to be finely tuned. I don't doubt he'd still flourish at either school, but he's still relatively untapped and will do well in a program where he can work on both speed and strength. He'll do well at ASU.

Thats a pretty balanced point of view. I see Bernie as more of a 5k guy long term, which is why I think he would be good at NAU or Colorado.

Credit is due wrote:

54 low. Possibly the fastest last 400 for a high level HS race ever.

As a high school student Jim Ryun ran the last lap of a 3:58.3 mile in about 55.7 seconds. He did this on a very chewed up dirt track (I have a high res picture of the finish). He also led every step of the way and had no one close to him to push him. It was a high school only race.

If Jim had hit the bell in 3:14 on a synthetic track I'm sure he could have run much, much faster than these two boys did (no disrespect meant).

and webb closed in 55.1 in his 3:53.4.....point is and still stands, that in a MILE race, 54.3 is the fastest that has been done. not the fastest that COULD'VE been done. as you were...

People do no research on programs. On here it is all about name programs or altitude. Why would he burn out at ASU? Quintana is as respected as a coach in the NCAA as you would find.

They had a redshirt freshman run 13:51 last night. He has quietly produced a ton of great runners at ASU - Men and Women. Speaking as one of his coaching peers, I can tell you he has much respect from Wetmore and Heins. ASU is like a Texas AM program, they put like 2 scholarships in the men distance team and they expect insane results - their director is similar to Pat Henry - very results oriented. Anyway, they have 4 or 5 guys on their team now who have run under 14 and he has coached like 20 guys or something under 14 in 8 years. Many of them 9:20 walk ons.

People, Bernie will be just fine. He is in great hands. I'm sure he will run great. Also, upon further review, he has coached 5 NCAA individual champions in 5 different events. That is crazy. 800-3k-steeple-5k-10k AND had two women's XC teams trophy at ncaa. If I had one person win a title I would retire:)

Ben seems to be fine running the mile while training in Park City where there's still snow on the ground.