Andy Baddeley Wins New Balance Elite Mile in 3:57, Edward Cheserek Runs 4:02, Recap, Results and Video
By LetsRun.com
January 21, 2012
By David Monti
(c) 2012 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved
NEW YORK (21-Jan) -- Showing solid early season form, Britain's Andy
Baddeley won the elite mile at today's 17th New Balance Games at the
Armory here in Upper Manhattan, leading five men under the four-minute
mark.
Baddeley, 29, who was the fastest miler of the 2008 outdoor season when
he clocked a personal best 3:49.38 at the Bislett Games in Oslo, stayed
near the front of the 14-man pack as pacemaker Brian Gagnon took the
field through the first quarter in 59.4 seconds, and the half in 1:57.8.
Baddeley waited until the penultimate lap to move to the lead, then
took the bell with compatriot James Brewer in hot pursuit. Baddeley
wasn't worried.
"I knew I had another few gears," Baddeley told Race Results Weekly
after the race. "I knew (I would win) if I held him off on the back
straight with 100 to go."
Brewer was unable to close on Baddeley, and the 2009 Fifth Avenue Mile
champion maintained his lead through the tape to win in an early world
leader of 3:57.22. Brewer clocked 3:57.92 in second, while former
University of Wisconsin athlete Craig Miller took third in 3:58.65.
"Hey, I love New York. I've had a lot of success here," said Baddeley,
who in addition to his Fifth Avenue Mile victory won the mile at this
meeting in 2010 and was third in the Wanamaker Mile at the Millrose
Games the same year.
Kenyan high schooler Edward Cheserek of St. Benedict's Prep in Newark
ran in the elite race and finished seventh in 4:02.21. He had hoped to
challenge Alan Webb's high school record of 3:59.86 set on the same
Armory track in the 2001 edition of this meet. (Editor's note: It was the second fastest mile ever by a person attending a US high school).
The women's mile was a bump-and-grind affair because there was no
designated pacemaker. A closely-bunched pack of 14 women went through
half way in a dawdling 2:27.4, three seconds slower than the high school
girls' mile which preceded theirs. Serbia's Marina Muncan and
Ireland's Stephanie O'Reilly were the nominal leaders, but nobody had
truly taken control of the race.
That all changed in the final three laps when Canada's Hilary
Stellingwerff went to the lead and picked up the pace. She was chased
closely by former University of California Riverside athlete Brenda
Martinez who used Stellingwerff's surge to set herself up for a powerful
final sprint.
"I felt good with, like, 400 to go," Martinez said after the race.
"It's tough to say that I wanted to use her, but I needed my confidence
back and I know I'm in great shape."
Martinez waited for the final turn to swing wide around Stellingwerff,
then surged to the tape in 4:39.37. Stellingwerff held on for second
(4:39.82) and Liz Maloy got third (4:40.32).
"It's really nice to get a win," the smiling Martinez said.
In the elite women's 800m, the 2010 NCAA champion Phoebe Wright led from
gun to tape, but was pressured throughout the race by Latavia Thomas.
Wright successfully defended her 2011 New Balance Games title in
2:02.32, to Thomas's 2:02.71.
"Yeah, it feels good," said Wright, who will return to the Armory to run
the same distance at the Millrose Games on February 11. "This track is
lightning fast."
Tevan Everett won the men's 800m in 1:47.70, despite easing up a little
before the finish line. Former University of Connecticut runner Mike
Rutt got second in 1:47.98, just ahead of Uganda's Julius Mutekanga
(1:48.00).
There was also spirited action in the varsity miles where the top-2
finishers would earn guaranteed spots in the Millrose Games high school
miles. In the girl's race, Laura Leff of West Genesee High School in
Upstate New York came from ten meters back with a lap to go to defeat
Megan Moye of Midlothian, Va., 4:48.96 to 4:49.36. Leff was surprised
that she caught Moye.
"No, no way," Leff said when asked if she thought she would win. "I was
just thinking, 'hold your spot' so I could go to Millrose."
Leff, Moye and third place Sophie Chase of Burke, Va. (4:55.79), all ran personal best times.
In the boys varsity mile, Zavon Watkins of Liverpool, N.Y., earned a
second consecutive berth in the Millrose Games high school mile where he
finished a disappointing seventh last year. In today's race he clocked
4:14.52 over Rhode Island's Mike Marsella (4:15.27) who, like Watkins,
will also go to Millrose.
"It was amazing, you know?" Watkins said. "Coming into the race I just
wanted to get first or second just to qualify. The big thing in my mind
was to make it back to Millrose and do something great, because last
year I ended up falling, tripping, and was never able to compete in the
race."
Finally, in the rarely-contested 500-meters, Strymar Livingston of
Christopher Columbus High School here ran a national high school record
of 1:01.68, shattering Mike Greene's record of 1:02.40 set back in 1984
in Boston.
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Men's Mile
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Women's Mile
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Men's 800m:
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Women's 800m:
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Video of 2012 New Balance Mile
More from Armory Track: New Balance Games: Edward Cheserek Runs 4:02, Strymar Livingston and Najee Glass Both Break 27 Year Old 500m High School Record
*Full Results
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