A pair of rising seniors stole the spotlight during the eighth annual adidas Grand Prix in New York City.
Bernie Montoya, Cibola
Photo courtesy of Kris C. H. Norton
Bernie Montoya of
Cibola (Yuma, Ariz.) won the Jim Ryun Dream Mile in an Arizona state-record time of 4 minutes, 1.32 seconds, which also is No. 1 in the nation for 2012. He has been famous for losing a shoe during big races, but this time he kept them both on and the result was superb, to say the least. Right on his heels was another rising senior, Jacob Burcham of
Cabell Midland (Ona, W. Va.), who was clocked in 4:02.73.
Montoya told Geoffrey Decker of MileSplit.us, "I was going into the race thinking I could maybe run a 4:03, 4:04. But something happened inside me - adrenaline or something - with 300 to go. I just wanted to win it."
The race favorite, rising senior Edward Cheserek of
St. Benedict's Prep (Newark, N.J.), led for the first 800 meters before fading to 12th in 4:07.29 It was his first loss in a high school field during the entire track and cross country season.
Cheserek's coach, Marty Hannon, told MaxPreps, "He just had a bad day. He wasn't feeling well that day. (Expectations) probably are a part of the problem. They get so high. They think he's not human, but he's human just like other teenagers."
Kermit Whitfield, Jones
Photo courtesy of Jason Byrne/FLRUNNERS.COM
It may have been the fastest mile in history with nine runners finishing quicker than 4:05.
The other rising senior who stole the show was Levonte "Kermit" Whitfield of
Jones (Orlando, Fla.), who won the Dream 100 in 10.43 seconds. Whitfield's cousin, Marvin Bracy, was held out due to a nagging injury, while another top contender, Tyreek Hill of
Coffee (Douglas, Ga.), was disqualified due to a false start.
Though his time was not extraordinary, Whitfield proved once again that he is hard to beat in premier races.
His coach, Fred Ray, told MaxPreps, "I'm starting to believe that this young man is not going to lose when it comes to a big race. That's just Kermit starting to develop that killer instinct that all champions have. I sent him a text to tell him how proud I am of him."
In the junior boys 4x400 relay,
Christian Brothers Academy (Lincroft, N.J.) came from third to first on the anchor leg to win in 3:15.73.
Cami Chapus of
Harvard-Westlake (Studio City, Calif.) was a repeat winner in the girls Dream Mile with a personal-record time of 4:39.64. Shayla Sanders of
Boyd Anderson (Lauderdale Lakes, Fla.) upheld her ranking as the 2012 national sprint leader by winning the Dream 100 in 11.34 seconds.
Ajee Wilson of
Neptune (N.J.) placed seventh in the women's 800, but her time of 2:02.61 was a personal record and the fastest time in the nation this year.
* Elsewhere, the Minnesota Class 2A state track meet presented a star of the future as Wensia Johnson, a rising ninth grader from
Alexandria (Minn.), won the 200 in 24.26 seconds. She also had broken the 26-year-old 100 record in the preliminaries, but it fell again in the finals to Taylor Anderson of
Hopkins (Minnetonka, Minn.).
Johnson, a native of Haiti, was adopted in 2004 and brought to the United States.
She told the Star Tribune, "When you're born in Haiti, you don't have much chance. So, I'm doing it for all the children who don't think they can. They actually can; they just need a chance."
* Tanner Sork of
Union (Vancouver, Wash.) had a whirlwind two weeks with superb 800 times and his efforts have paid off with a full scholarship to Brigham Young University. He found out last week that his preferred walk-on status was upgraded to full ride. He has grown close to 12 inches since his sophomore year when he couldn't break 63 seconds in the 400.
