High Schoolers Shine At Trials of Miles' Track Night NYC | Best Performances Of The Weekend

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The CITIUS MAG team is still riding the high from helping host an awesome night of races at Icahn Stadium on Friday night. We were hit with a ton of rain and lightning in the hours leading up to the meet, which resulted in an hour-long weather delay, but once it cleared up, we were treated to perfect conditions for some historic performances. A special thank you to the 19,000+ people who tuned in from around the world. Big kudos to meet directors Dave Alfano and Cooper Knowlton for organizing the event with the help of Tracksmith. If you missed it live, you can watch the broadcast in its full entirety here or check out our YouTube channel for several highlights.

Here are the best moments from the weekend:

TRIALS OF MILES TRACK NIGHT NYC (FULL RESULTS):

Juliette Whittaker Becomes The Second High School Girl Ever Under Two Minutes

Mount De Sales Academy (MD) senior Juliette Whittaker got the night going with her victory over a field of professional runners in 1:59.80 to become just the second American high school girl to break two minutes for the 800m. She was just 0.29 seconds away from Mary Cain’s 1:59.51 record set at the 2013 Prefontaine Classic and barely missed the World Championship (not World juniors!) standard in the event.

Whittaker entered the meet with a 2:01.15 personal best from last June. I remember when I had her on the CITIUS MAG Podcast in March, she talked a bit about how she’s the type of runner who would prefer to finish fourth in a race and get pushed to a faster time than to win in a slower time. The future Stanford Cardinal didn’t have to worry about choosing between the two scenarios on Friday night since she just edged out World Indoor Championship qualifier and Stanford alumna Olivia Baker in the closing meters of the race.

“Can’t explain how much this one means to me,” Whittaker wrote on Instagram. “Not because of the place or time, but because of what I had to go through to get me here. This year has been far from perfect, I started off the track season with a stress fracture, then lost my grandfather, and then I got covid. But from all these setbacks I have learned the importance of patience and resilience in the face of adversity, strengthening my love for this sport now more than ever, not love of records or medals, but love of the grit, determination, opportunities, and community that make up this sport. And I can’t think of any other meet I would have wanted a moment this special to have happened surrounded by all of these incredible women who I look up to everyday. I truly could not have achieved this without every single one of them in the race.”

In case you missed it, you can listen to Juliette Whittaker’s episode of The CITIUS MAG Podcast here:

Baker finished second in 1:59.90 and the BAA’s Brenna Detra took third in 1:59.94. Both also joined the sub-two club for the first time in their respective careers. Moses Brown School (RI) junior Sophia Gorriaran, who ran the second-fastest high school girls indoor 800m in February, placed fourth in a personal best of 2:00.65. That also ties her at No. 4 on the U.S. all-time high school girls outdoor 800m list behind Cain, Whittaker and Kim Gallagher (2:00.07 from 1982) and Sammy Watson (2:00.65 from 2017).

There was some Twitter discussion around the relative attention received for a high school girl breaking two minutes in the 800 compared with a high school boy breaking 4 minutes in the mile. For what it’s worth, the World Athletics scoring tables equate a 1:59.80 800m to a 3:52.73 mile.

According to Alison Wade of The Fast Women newsletter, Whittaker will race the mile at the Brooks PR Invitational on June 15 and then the 800 meters at the USATF U20 Championships that determines Team USA for the World U20 Championships in Cali, Colombia, instead of the U.S. Outdoor Track and Field Championships (the senior meet that determines the World Championship team).

Cade Flatt Gives Michael Granville A Scare; Thinks “I’m The Best Ever”

The women’s race was supposed to feature Atlanta Track Club’s world leader Allie Wilson and world indoor champion Ajee’ Wilson, before they were late scratches, so there wasn’t much attention on Whittaker in the lead-up to the race. That wasn’t the case for Marshall County High School (KY) senior Cade Flatt, who came into Friday night as one of the meet’s headliners. Ahead of time, the always-quotable Flatt made it quite clear that he wants Michael Granville’s high school 800m record of 1:46.45, which has stood since 1996.

District Track Club’s CJ Jones paced the field through the first lap in 50.49 but Flatt stayed back in seventh place at the bell in 52.54. He made up plenty of ground in the final 200 meters as he chased Festus Lagat, Edose Ibadin and Vince Crisp into the homestretch. Lagat took the win in a season’s best of 1:45.02 but most eyes were on Flatt, who had to wait a few moments for his time to flash on the screen.

1:46.51 eventually came up and while he was a bit disappointed, he told our sideline reporter Ali Feller, “I feel good. I’m happy with it. I think I’m the best ever…I came out here and gave it my best shot. I’ve still got time. I ain’t done yet.”

More results from Track Night NYC:

– British record holder Lizzie Bird opened up her steeplechase season with a 9:30.57 win.

– Canada’s Jean-Simon Desgagne went back-to-back at Trials of Miles’ NYC meets by winning the men’s steeplechase race in a personal best of 8:22.95 — just shy of the world championship qualifying standard.

– High school junior Devan Kipyego of St. Raphael Academy (RI) won the high school boys’ mile in 4:05.51.

– Mia Cochran, Moon Area (PA) senior and Arkansas commit, won the high school girls’ mile in 4:42.43.

– Empire Elite’s Eric Holt is now four-for-four in his Trials of Miles NYC races. He won the men’s 1500m in a season’s best of 3:40.95 and delivered yet another memorable post-race interview.

– Alma Cortes broke the Mexican national record in the women’s 1500 meters with a 4:06.06 win. She took a whole second off Laura Galvan’s record, which was set just a few weeks ago at Sound Running’s The Track Meet.

– Canada’s Corey Bellemore lowered his own NA beer mile world record to 4:53.08 after running 3:45.03 for the 1500m.

BIRMINGHAM DIAMOND LEAGUE HIGHLIGHTS (FULL RESULTS):

– Olympic silver medalist Keely Hodginkson opened up her season with a very impressive 1:58.63 win in the women’s 800 meters. She will be running in the Prefontaine Classic women’s 800m this Saturday.

– Laura Muir returned to racing for the first time after a few hiccups in training and won the women’s 1500 meters in 4:02.81, going basically wire-to-wire. Jessica Hull finished just behind her in 4:03.42.

– Dina Asher-Smith beat Olympic bronze medalist Shericka Jackson of Jamaica 11.11 to 11.12 in the women’s 100m. World indoor silver medalist Mikiah Brisco finished fourth (11.25) just ahead of Gabby Thomas (11.31) for top American. Olympic champion Elaine Thompson-Herah pulled out of this meet claiming discomfort in training, but then actually raced in Jamaica and clocked a 10.94.

– The Brits also picked up a win in the men’s 400 meters with Matthew Hudson-Smith taking the race in 45.32.

– Kenya’s Abel Kipsang remains undefeated this season. He won the men’s 1500m in 3:35.15. If you’re wondering who won the battle between Olli Hoare and Josh Kerr, the all-time head-to-head is now even at 3–3. Hoare took third in the race in 3:35.76 while Kerr finished fifth in 3:35.92.

– Canada’s Marco Arop won the men’s 800m in 1:45.41. U.S. Olympian Bryce Hoppel was third in 1:46.33.

– Burundi’s Francine Niyonsaba was unable to make it into Great Britain for the women’s 5000m race due to some travel and visa issues. Ethiopia’s Dawit Seyaum ended up winning her 5000m debut in 14:47.55, a promising result for the 1500m specialist (although in fairness she has run 14:39 on the roads)

– U.S. Olympic Trials champion Trayvon Bromell and European champion Zharnel Hughes were disqualified due to false starts. On the third gun, Canadian Aaron Brown won his first Diamond League 100m in 10.13. Meanwhile, 21-year-old Oblique Seville ran 9.86 in Jamaica.

– Dalilah Muhammad, the reigning world champion who already has a spot for the world championships, easily won the women’s 400m hurdles in 54.54.

– 2021 Olympic champion Hansle Parchment beat 2016 Olympic champion Omar McLeod 13.09 to 13.17 in the 100m hurdles, the fastest time of the year so far. Parchment remains undefeated on the season.

– Canada’s Django Lovett (2.28m) beat Olympic champion Gianmarco Tamberi (2.25m) in the men’s high jump. Tamberi is still looking for his first win of 2022.

– As expected, Olympic champion Malaika Mihambo of Germany opened up with a big 7.09m victory in the women’s long jump.

– Sandi Morris won the women’s pole vault as the only woman above 4.73m. This may have been one of the events most impacted by the cool, rainy weather, as 2021 Olympic medalists Katie Nageotte (4.30m) and Holly Bradshaw (no height) both struggled.

– 2021 Olympic champion Valarie Allman just beat out 2012 and 2016 Olympic champion Sandra Perkovic with a 67.85m toss in her second round. Perkovic threw 67.26 on her final try but came up just shy of the win. Allman has not lost since last September.

– Slovenia’s Kristjan Čeh moved to No. 10 all-time with a 71.27m to win the men’s discus, setting a new meet and Diamond League record. Olympic champion Daniel Ståhl of Sweden finished third in the competition.

AMERICAN TRACK LEAGUE DUVAL COUNTY CHALLENGE:

– Jacksonville was hit with a bad storm on Saturday night that forced the start of the Duval County Challenge to be delayed for over 2.5 hours. When racing finally resumed, most of the attention this meet was on Sha’Carri Richardson finally opening up her 2022 season. Leading into the weekend, Richardson had pulled out of three previously announced races without any explanation, including a clash with Jamaica’s Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce at the Kip Keino Classic in Nairobi, Kenya, last month. Her results this weekend were subpar by the standards of a reigning Olympic Trials champ, but at least the rust has been busted. Richardson finished fourth in her first shot at the women’s 100m in 11.37 (-1.5 m/s wind) behind Aleia Hobbs (11.28), Brittany Brown (11.30) and TeeTee Terry (11.34). A little while later, organizers added a final 100m to the meet with little advance notice. Hobbs and Brown did not run in it. Richardson ended up taking the win in 11.27 (-0.1 m/s wind). I’m not ready to read too much into the performance but it is slower than when she jogged into last place in 11.14 at the Prefontaine Classic last August.

– Devon Allen won the 110 meter hurdles by almost 2/10ths of a second, clocking a 13.17 that was far more impressive than the on-paper result when accounting for the wind, rain delays and wet track.

– 400-meter specialist Lynna Irby executed an impressive double given the brutal conditions, coming back from an 11.57 victory in the first heat of the women’s 100m to win the 400m in 51.03.

– The long delays, brutal weather (it was often raining quite hard even during the events), and limited lighting on the track meant that several big stars slated to appear, including Grant Holloway and Erriyon Knighton, ultimately withdrew from the competition.

Coming up next: The Prefontaine Classic will be held on Friday and Saturday. Friday night’s races include three world record attempts (men’s and women’s 5000m + women’s two-mile) and the U.S. championship 10000m races. Saturday will be a full slate of Diamond League contests. I will be traveling to Eugene tomorrow and we’ll have our ‘After The Final Lap’ show on Friday and Saturday live from Oregon! I will send over in-depth previews of all the action in the coming days.

🙏 Thanks again for reading and sharing. Follow me on Twitter: @chrischavez and Instagram: @chris_j_chavez. Tell your friends to sign up for the newsletter to stay in the know on what and how to watch the best track and field action.

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