Week in Review: A solid start
Despite sparse crowds, Grand Slam Track's inaugural meet produced numerous top performances
People who determine the success of a track meet based on its attendance would have given poor marks to the inaugural Grand Slam Track event held in Kingston, Jamaica, last weekend.
But if your rating system combines the enthusiasm of the performing athletes, the quality of marks produced, and the number of hotly contested races, the opening meet of the new professional track league had a solid start.
Jamaica has a well-deserved reputation as a nation that appreciates track and field. But for whatever reason/s, the attendance on the first day of the meet last Friday was abysmally low, and though it was significantly higher on Saturday and Sunday, I would be surprised if there were more than 2,000 people in the stands on either one of those days.
That was a shame because six athletes produced yearly world-leading marks in their respective events during the three-day meet and nearly half of the 24 races were highly competitive affairs in which a winner did not emerge until very late in the proceedings.
If this email appears clipped or truncated in your inbox, you should be able to click on “View entire message” to read it in its entirety.
The performance of the meet definitely went to Salwa Eid Naser of Bahrain, who ran 48.67 seconds in winning the 400 meters in the women’s long sprints event category last Saturday after she had finished a disappointing fourth in the 200 in 22.99 the night before.
While Naser’s time ranked 23rd on the all-time performance list, it is the quickest effort ever run before July 20.
In addition to all of the above performances, Grand Slam Track founder Michael Johnson and Co. took a big step forward on behalf of the competing athletes when they awarded an unprecedented amount of prize money for every performer in the meet.
Six men and six women each won $100,000 for winning their respective event categories, and the breakdown for the next seven finishers in each category was $50,000 for second place, $30,000 for third, $25,000 for fourth, $20,000 for fifth, $15,000 for sixth, $12,500 for seventh, and $10,000 for eighth.
The record prize purse enabled a performer such as Dalilah Muhammad of the U.S. to garner $50,000 in winnings for finishing second to compatriot Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone in the women’s long hurdles category.
The 35-year-old Muhammad is in the twilight of a stellar career that includes gold medals in the 400-meter hurdles in the 2016 Olympic Games and the 2019 World Athletics Championships, as well as a pair of world records in the event. And yet, she had never come close to winning the amount of prize money she won last weekend.
Kenny Bednarek of the U.S., who won the men’s short sprints category in Kingston after placing first in the 100 meters in 10.07 on Friday and in the 200 in 20.07 on Saturday, was one athlete who was very appreciative of Grand Slam Track’s prize money structure.
“I got to pick up the ultimate prize at the end of the day,” he said in an interview during the Peacock broadcast. “Everybody’s getting paid and that’s what we need in this sport, no matter how fast or slow we are… all athletes should get paid, because we put a lot of blood, sweat, and heart [into] the sport.”
For daily reports on last weekend’s inaugural Grand Slam Track meet, you can click the following links for Day One, Day Two, and Day Three.
Adding my two cents: As someone who would like to see Grand Slam Track flourish, I have a couple of suggestions that could improve the product.
First, the broadcast of the meet does not need to start 42 minutes before the first event is run. Nor does it need to last for nearly 40 minutes after the final race has concluded.
For many people, that’s too much downtime without any competitive action on the screen.
Going forward, I would suggest that there be no more than 15 minutes from the start of the broadcast until the first race, as well as no more than 15 or 20 minutes from the last event until the end of the broadcast.
My second critique has to do with the fact that there was a lack of splits being consistently displayed on the screen during races of 800 meters or longer last weekend.
I am enough of a numbers person that I would be fine if splits were given for every 200 meters of the 800. But if that cannot be done, splits should be given for the first lap of the 800 and for the 400-, 800-, and 1,200-meter marks of the 1,500.
I would also be fine with getting splits for every 400 meters of the 3,000 or 5,000. But if that seems to be too much information for the typical viewer, at least post splits for every kilometer.
There were times last weekend when splits were given for some odd distances such as the first 1,800 meters of a 3,000 or 5,000.
I am a former distance runner who has been following track and field since the early 1970s and a split for the first 1,800 meters of a 3,000 or 5,000 means very little to me.
In contrast, a split for the first 1,600 meters or two kilometers of a 3,000 or 5,000 gives me a much better understanding of how the race is unfolding.
Standout performance: Six athletes posted yearly world-leading marks in their respective events in Grand Slam Track’s inaugural meet last weekend, but as mentioned previously, no one’s effort was better than that of Salwa Eid Naser of Bahrain.
Running in the 400 meters as part of the women’s long sprints category, Naser clocked 48.67 seconds in a race in which Gabby Thomas of the U.S. finished second in a personal best of 49.14 and Olympic champion Marileidy Paulino of the Dominican Republic placed third in 49.35.
The 26-year-old Naser’s time was the third fastest of her career and came a week after she had opened her season with a 48.94 clocking in the Felix Sanchez Classic in Bayaguana, Dominican Republic.
That performance had marked the first time in history that a woman had run under 49 seconds in a 400 before late May and her time in the Grand Slam Track meet last Saturday is the fastest ever run prior to July 20.
Although Alexis Holmes of the U.S. led the field through the first 200 meters of the race, Naser was not far behind her and she had a sizeable lead over Paulino and Thomas as she entered the home straightaway.
Paulino is well known for her strong finish in the 400, but she and Thomas both lost ground to Naser during the final 100 meters of the race as the Olympic silver medalist was running with a bit of a chip on her shoulder after finishing fourth in 22.99 in a 200-meter race of the long sprints division on Friday.
“After yesterday’s race, I was so mad with myself because I knew I could do better,” Naser said in a World Athletics post. “Coming out here and running this time, I feel fulfilled for yesterday.”
Win streak reaches four: Success in February, March, and early April is no guarantee of success in July, August, or September. However, Christopher Bailey of the U.S. had an impressive start to his outdoor season when he won the men’s 400 meters as part of the long sprints event category in Grand Slam Track’s season opening contest.
Bailey, who placed sixth in the 400 in the Olympic Games last year after having made one NCAA final during a collegiate career that saw him compete for Mississippi Valley State, Tennessee, and Arkansas, clocked a yearly world-leading time of 44.34 seconds after pulling away from Olympic silver medalist Matthew Hudson-Smith of Great Britain during the final 110 meters of the race on Friday.
Hudson-Smith finished second in 44.65, followed by American Vernon Norwood in 44.70. Olympic bronze medalist Muzala Samukonga of Zambia finished fifth in 45.27, with Olympic fourth-place finisher Jereem Richards of Trinidad and Tebogo sixth in 45.35.
Bailey’s time was only three hundredths of a second off his personal best of 44.31 that he had run in an Olympic semifinal last year, and it followed an indoor season in which he had run a yearly world-leading time of 44.70 and won all three of his races, including the final of the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Nanjing, China, on March 22 when he led the U.S. to a 1-2-3 finish.
Running in lane seven on the newly resurfaced track at Kingston National Stadium, Bailey trailed Hudson-Smith, who was in lane six, by three or four meters after the first 220 meters of the race. But he reduced his deficit during the next 70 meters and had a small lead over second-place Hudson-Smith as he entered the home straightaway.
He then expanded his advantage during the remainder of the contest while running under 45 seconds for the ninth consecutive time outdoors since last year.
Looking to branch out?: Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone of the U.S., the two-time defending Olympic champion and the six-time world record-setter in the women’s 400-meter hurdles, posted large margins of victory in that event and in the open 400 while winning the long hurdles event category in the Grand Slam Track meet.
The 25-year-old McLaughlin-Levrone defeated second-place Dalilah Muhammad of the U.S. by nearly two seconds in the 400 hurdles when the former ran a yearly world-leading time of 52.76 to the latter’s 54.59 on Friday.
She then ran 50.32 to win the 400 on a breezy final day on Sunday while finishing well ahead of second-place Andrenette Knight on Jamaica, who ran 52.09, and third-place Muhammad, who timed 52.21.
McLaughlin-Levrone was dominant enough in her two races that she was asked in a post-race interview if she might compete in a different event category in any of the three remaining Grand Slam Track meets this season.
She answered that she and her coach, Bobby Kersee, were “definitely” thinking about running in the long sprints category in the fourth — and final — meet at UCLA from June 27-29, as well as competing in the short hurdles category at Franklin Field in Philadelphia from May 30-June 1.
Athletes in the long sprints division compete in the 200 and 400 meters, with performers in the short hurdles category taking part in the 100 hurdles and the 100.
“I think this is just an opportunity to showcase more of my range, which I love to do,” McLaughlin-Levrone said in a sit-down interview with Grand Slam Track’s John Anderson, Sanya Richards-Ross, and Matthew Centrowitz. “I love switching events up. We’ll do the four, four hurdles. We might do the [200 400]. We might do the 100 hurdles, 100 so it’s just a really great opportunity for track and field, and I’m happy to be part of it.”
Another double winner: Like Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone in the women’s long hurdles category in the Grand Slam Track meet, Alison dos Santos of Brazil was victorious in both of his races in the men’s long hurdles division.
And like McLaughlin-Levrone in the 400 hurdles, he ran the fastest time in the world this year when he clocked 47.61 seconds in the 400 intermediate hurdles last Friday. But unlike his American counterpart, dos Santos did not have an easy time of it in the 400 on Sunday, as he was pushed to the limit before winning the race in 45.52.
Dos Santos trailed Americans — and former NCAA intermediate hurdles champions — Chris Robinson and Caleb Dean when he entered the home straightaway and he did not edge past first-place Robinson until the last two or three strides of the race.
Robinson placed second in a personal best of 45.54, followed by Dean in 45.68 and Roshawn Clarke of Jamaica in 45.73.
Making strides: Tia Jones of the U.S. defeated a stellar field in winning the 100 hurdles in a yearly world-leading time of 12.63 seconds in the Grand Slam Track meet last Saturday.
The 24-year-old Jones was well clear of her closest pursuers when she crossed the finish line as two-time World champion Danielle Williams of Jamaica finished second in 12.70, followed by Olympic bronze medalist Jasmine Camacho-Quinn of Puerto Rico, also in 12.70, Ackera Nugent of Jamaica in 12.75, and Olympic champion Masai Russell of the U.S. in 12.78.
Jones and Danisha Cartwright of the Bahamas battled for the lead through the first four or five flights of hurdles, but Jones had taken charge of the race by the sixth barrier and she was never seriously challenged for the victory.
She was understandably excited with her win as it came in her second final of the outdoor season and in only her third race since a superb 2024 indoor season in the 60-meter hurdles had been cut short by an injury.
Jones had tied the then-world record of 7.67 in her semifinal of the USA Track & Field Indoor Championships last year before winning the final in 7.68, but an anterior cruciate ligament injury prevented her from competing in the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Glasgow, Scotland. And in her only meet of the outdoor season, she ran 12.90 in the 100 hurdles in a qualifying heat of the U.S. Olympic Team Trials before withdrawing from her semifinal.
She then opened this year’s outdoor season with a winning wind-aided time of 12.57 in the Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays a week before her victory on Saturday.
World lead in off event: Nikki Hiltz of the U.S. is best known for their exploits in the 1,500 meters and mile, but they posted the fastest time in the world this year while winning the women’s 800 in a personal best of 1:58.23 in the Grand Slam Track meet last Friday.
The 30-year-old Hiltz, the silver medalist in the 1,500 in last year’s World indoor championships, was in second place behind compatriot Heather MacLean at the end of the first lap. But they had a small lead over second-place Diribe Welteji of Ethiopia and third-place Jessica Hull of Australia when they came through 600 meters.
Welteji, fourth in the 1,500 in the Olympics, drew very close to Hiltz in the final 25 meters of the race. But she was unable to draw even with the American, who had finished seventh in the Olympics in the 1,500.
Welteji clocked 1:58.29 in second place, with Olympic 1,500 silver medalist Hull finishing third in a personal best of 1:58.58 and American Sage Hurta-Klecker placing fourth in 1:59.26.
Mary Moraa of Kenya, the 2023 World champion in the 800, never looked comfortable in the race and finished eighth in 2:00.97.
She withdrew from the 1,500 on Saturday due to dehydration.
Upsetting the form charts: The most surprising result from last weekend’s Grand Slam Track meet occurred on Saturday when Emmanuel Wanyonyi of Kenya won the men’s 1,500 meters while defeating a field that included the gold, silver, and bronze medalists from the Olympic Games in Paris.
Wanyonyi had edged Marco Arop of Canada for the Olympic title in the 800 and he is tied for second on the all-time performer list in that event with a personal best of 1:41.11. But many “experts” in the track world, including Grand Slam Track’s Matthew Centrowitz, figured that Wanyonyi and fellow 800 specialists Arop, Bryce Hoppel of the U.S., and Mohamed Attaoui of Spain would be battling for the fifth- through eighth-place positions when the 1,500 began in Kingston because the other four runners in the field included Cole Hocker and Yared Nuguse of the U.S. and Josh Kerr and Neil Gourley of Great Britain.
Hocker, Kerr, and Nuguse finished 1-2-3 in the Olympics and Gourley had placed second in the same event in the European indoor championships in Apeldoorn, Netherlands, in March.
However, when none of those four runners pushed the pace for the first two laps, it enabled Wanyonyi to be tucked comfortably behind Hocker, Nuguse, and Kerr when Hocker led the field through 800 meters in 2:00.10.
The tempo picked up during the next lap, but Nuguse had not broken away from Kerr, Wanyonyi or Gourley when he came through 1,200 meters in 2:56.19.
Nuguse maintained his lead down the backstretch and around the final curve, but Wanyonyi looked to be straining much less than the others as they swept into the home straightaway.
He moved out into lane two and proceeded to take the lead with about 40 meters left in the race while motioning to Nuguse with his left arm as he moved past him.
Wanyonyi’s winning time of 3:35.18 crushed his previous best of 3:43.19 from 2022 and left him ahead of Nuguse at 3:35.36, Hocker at 3:35.52, Gourley at 3:35.60, and Kerr at 3:35.61.
Nuguse said “it was a really fun race” afterward before adding that he and his fellow 1,500 specialists needed to “get them back” when looking ahead to Sunday’s 800-meter race in which the milers would be regarded as underdogs to the half milers.
As it turned out, Arop won the 800 in 1:45.13, followed by Wanyonyi in 1:46.44, and Hoppel in 1:47.02, with the next three places going to Gourley in 1:47.84, Hocker in 1:48.02, and Nuguse in 1:48.16.
Wanyonyi won the overall short distance title with 20 points after being awarded 12 points for his win in the 1,500 and 8 for his runner-up finish in the 800.
Arop placed second in the standings with 15 points after winning the 800 and finishing sixth in the 1,500. Nuguse was third with 11 points.
Welcome to the club: Matt Denny of Australia set an Oceania record of 72.07 meters (236 feet 5 inches) in winning the men’s discus in a meet in Ramona, Oklahoma, on Sunday.
Denny’s huge effort came in the eighth meet of the Oklahoma Throws series this season and at the same Millican Field at Throw Town facility where a stiff breeze helped Lithuanian Mykolas Alekna raise the world record to 74.35 (243-11) in April of last year. Denny’s throw also moved him to fifth on the all-time performer list, bettered his previous best of 69.96 (229-6) from last year, and made him the 34th man to have thrown 70 meters (229-8) or farther.
Claudio Romero of Chile finished second at 66.42 (217-11) and Diego Casas of Spain placed third with a personal best of 65.54 (215-0).
The 28-year-old Denny threw 69.11 (226-9), 69.72 (228-9), and 69.17 (226-11) on his first three throws in Ramona before uncorking his 72.07 (236-5) effort in the fourth round. He then hit 69.62 (228-5) on his fifth attempt and 71.12 (233-4) on his sixth to cap a superb series in which he averaged 70.13 (230-1) on his six throws.
A post on his Instagram account included a video of the 72.07 (236-5) throw and the text read “72.07” and was followed by an emoji of a male gorilla.
Adding to his collegiate legacy: Mykolas Alekna of Lithuania opened his junior season at Cal with a winning throw of 70.09 (229-11) in the Brutus Hamilton Invitational and Multis meet in Berkeley, California, last Saturday.
Alekna had raised the collegiate record to 71.00 (232-11) as a sophomore in 2023 before redshirting last year when he raised the world record to 74.35 (243-11) in April and won the silver medal in the Olympic Games in Paris in August.
Alekna threw 65.85 in the first round of the meet at Cal’s Edwards Stadium on Saturday before posting his 70.09 (229-11) effort in the second round.
He then produced marks of 67.68 (222-0), 68.73 (225-6), 68.86 (225-11), and 70.01 (229-8) on his four remaining throws to wrap up a series in which he averaged 68.53 (224-10) on his six efforts.
Alekna, whose father, Virgilijus Alekna, was a two-time Olympic and two-time World champion, has now topped 70 meters (229-8) in three consecutive seasons.
Daniel Stahl of Sweden, the 2019 World and 2021 Olympic champion, had a streak from 2019-23 in which he threw 71.37 (234-2) or farther every year.
Dynamic duo: The University of Georgia could score a bunch of points in the women’s javelin in the NCAA championships in Eugene, Oregon, from June 11-14.
That’s because the Bulldogs currently have the two longest throwers in the collegiate ranks this season in freshman Manuela Rotundo from Uruguay and senior Lianna Davidson from Australia.
Rotundo, the bronze medalist in the Ibero American Athletics Championships last year, came within two centimeters of the collegiate record when she threw a Uruguayan record of 64.17 (210-6) in the Florida Relays in Gainesville, Florida, last Friday.
Davidson, the runner-up in the last two NCAA championships while throwing for Texas A&M, finished second in the Florida Relays with a best of 62.27 (204-3) after setting a personal best of 63.79 (209-3) while finishing ahead of Rotundo (61.13/200-7) in the Yellow Jacket Invitational in Atlanta on March 21.
Rotundo’s 64.17 (210-6) effort came on her opening throw in the Florida Relays and her final five efforts measured 59.93 (196-7), 57.52 (188-8), 60.58 (198-9), 56.32 (184-9), and 59.22 (194-3).
A post on Rotundo’s Instagram account read as follows: 64.17🥇😭
🏅National Record
🏅South American U23 record
🏅School record 🐶
🎖️Qualification for Tokyo 2025 🌎
3️⃣World ranking‼️
1️⃣South American ranking
1️⃣NCAA ranking
I’m very happy about what happened this Friday night in Florida.
Second competition of the year with my team❤️
They were goals I thought about later… but they arrived now, with a lot of work, thought, and heart!
Thanks to those who always support me🥰
Because when you persist, work, and believe… achievements come.
So proud for being a dawg❤️🐶
A second No. 2 mark: Freshman Pamela Kosgei of the University of New Mexico moved to second on the all-time collegiate list in the women’s 3,000-meter steeplechase in the Stanford Invitational in Palo Alto, California, last Saturday a week after she had also moved to second in the women’s 10,000 in THE TEN meet in San Juan Capistrano, California.
Kosgei’s winning time of 9:15.93 in the steeplechase at Stanford left her nearly 45 seconds in front of second-place Brooke Mullins of Florida State, who ran 10:00.91. In addition, her effort fell just short of the collegiate record of 9:15.24 that Kenyan compatriot Doris Lemngole of Alabama had run in winning the NCAA title last year.
Kosgei had previously moved to second on the all-time collegiate list in the 10,000 when she placed ninth in THE TEN meet in 31:02.73.
The runner-up in last year’s NCAA cross country championships, Kosgei ran the first half of that 10,000 in about 15:06 and the second half in 15:56.
New Mexico Coach Darren Gauson said in a post-meet interview on Flotrack.org that Kosgei “got out a little over her skis in the first 5k” before adding that “If [she] had gone out a little more controlled, I think there was a big run in there. We were hoping for a 30:30 tonight.”
Big improvement: Senior Erika Beistle of Grand Valley State University crushed her previous best in the women’s discus when she set an NCAA Division II record of 66.63 (218-7) in winning the event in the GVSU Early Meet in Allendale, Michigan, last Saturday.
The mark move Beistle to second on the yearly world list behind two-time defending Olympic champion Valarie Allman of the U.S., who has thrown 66.72 (218-11), and to fourth on the all-time collegiate performer list.
Beistle, who finished fourth in the U.S. Olympic Team Trials last year, threw 55.48 (182-0) on her first throw on Saturday before nailing her 66.63 (218-7) effort in the second round. She then fouled on her third attempt before throwing 59.17 (194-1), 62.76 (205-11), and 61.41 (201-5) on her final three throws.
Beistle had set her previous best of 62.80 (206-0) in the Olympic Trials.
A post on her Instagram account was short and sweet and read as follows: Surrounded by the best people! 💙
🆕 Current #2 in the World
🆕 NCAA DII Record
🆕 4th-Best in NCAA Women’s history
🆕 GVSU Program Record
Two liners: Senior Auhmad Robinson of Texas A&M University ran a personal best of 44.61 seconds in the men’s 400 meters while winning the open division of the Florida Relays in Gainesville, Florida, last Saturday. He also ran a 44.59-second anchor leg on a quartet that won the invitational 4 x 400 relay in 3:02.15, the fastest collegiate time of the year. . . . . . . Erriyon Knighton of the U.S. lowered his personal best in the 400 to 45.37 when he placed second in the invitational race of the Florida Relays last Saturday. It was the first individual outdoor race of the season for Knighton, as the silver medalist in the 200 in the 2023 World Athletics Championships bettered his previous best of 46.15 in the 400. . . . . . . Senior Lexi Brown of Baylor University leaped a wind-aided 7.00 meters (22 feet 11¾ inches) to win the invitational women’s long jump in the Florida Relays last Friday. Brown had won the NCAA indoor title on March 15 when she spanned a personal best of 6.90 (22-7¾). . . . . . . Senior Kostas Zaltos and sophomore Angelos Mantzouranis of the University of Minnesota set personal bests of 77.91 (255-7) and 77.43 (254-0), respectively, in finishing first and second in the Florida Relays last Friday. Zaltos moved into a tie for seventh on the all-time collegiate performer list with his throw and Greek compatriot Mantzouranis moved to 10th with his effort. . . . . . . Collegiate record-holder Amanda Moll of the University of Washington cleared 4.37 (14-4) to finish second behind sophomore teammate and twin Hana Moll (4.47/14-8) in the Stanford Invitational in Palo Alto, California, last Friday. It was the first outdoor meet of the season for Amanda and Hana, who placed first and second in the NCAA indoor championships and are the two highest collegiate vaulters in history with personal bests of 4.91 (16-1¼) and 4.81 (15-9¼). . . . . . . Julian Alfred of St. Lucia and Shericka Jackson of Jamaica set personal bests in the women’s 300 meters when they ran 36.05 and 36.13, respectively, while finishing first and second in the Miramar Invitational in Miramar, Florida, last Saturday. Defending Olympic 100 champion Alfred and two-time World championship 200 winner Jackson were both running in their first individual races of the outdoor season.
Notable effort in Berlin: Fotyen Tesfay of Ethiopia won the women’s race of the Berlin Half Marathon in 1 hour 3 minutes 35 seconds on Sunday to record the fifth-fastest time in the history in the event.
The 27-year-old Tesfay won the women’s division by nearly three and a half minutes as compatriots Ftaw Zeray and Alemaddis Eyayu placed second and third, respectively, with times of 1:07:02 and 1:07:12.
Running in cool and breezy conditions, Tesfay came through the first five kilometers of the race in 14:58 before she was credited with splits of 29:54 at 10 kilometers and 45:02 at 15 kilometers.
That 45:02 clocking projected to a final time of 1:03:20, but Tesfay slowed a little over the last six-plus kilometers of the race while recording the second-fastest time of her career. She had run 1:03:21 last October while finishing second to Agnes Ngetich of Kenya in the Valencia Half Marathon in Spain.
“The course is very good, but it was extremely windy and the cold temperatures made it also difficult for me,” Tesfay said in a World Athletics post. “But I kept my rhythm well and I'm happy with my fast time.”
Gemechu Dida of Ethiopia won the men’s race in 58:43 while finishing well ahead of second-place Richard Etir of Kenya in 59:30 and third-place Amanal Petros of Germany in 59:31. Petros’ clocking crushed his previous German record of 1:00:09 that he had set while finishing 11th in the Valencia Marathon in 2021.
Looking ahead: Sam Ruthe of New Zealand, the youngest person in history to have run under four minutes in the mile, is scheduled to compete in the boys’ 3,200 meters in the Arcadia Invitational in Arcadia, California, on Saturday night.
Ruthe, who will turn 16 on Saturday, set world age-15 bests of 3:40.12 in the 1,500 meters and 3:58.35 in the mile last month.
The Arcadia Invitational, which began in 1968, is regarded as the best in-season prep invitational in the U.S. each year and the boys’ 3,200 meters has become the signature event of a meet that typically includes competitors from more than 30 states.
In last year’s meet, a record 69 runners broke nine minutes in the 3,200, with 37 of those performances coming in a 38-runner invitational section that was won by Daniel Simmons of American Fork High School in Utah, who ran 8:34.96.
While Ruthe has never run a 3,200, he clocked 7:56.18 for 3,000 meters on Feb. 1. That effort converts to a time of 8:34.28 for 3,200 meters.
The two-day Arcadia Invitational will begin at 4 p.m., Eastern Daylight Time, today, with the running of the 100 meters in the boys’ decathlon.
The “Burning Batons” portion of the meet will start at 8 p.m.
Saturday’s festivities will start at 11:30 a.m., EDT, with the staging of the 100-meter hurdles in the girls’ heptathlon.
The invitational section of the meet will begin at 7 p.m. with the boys’ discus, with the seeded race of the girls’ 4 x 100 relay kicking off the track events at 8.
The invitational race of the boys’ 3,200 is scheduled to start at 11:34 p.m.
You can click here to stream the meet for free, here for an event schedule, and here for live results.