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Recap - Mikey Brannigan leads parade in 'shocking' 3200 at 2015 Loucks Games

Published by
DyeStat.com   May 9th 2015, 8:17am
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Brannigan leads parade in 'shocking' 3,200

 

By Mary Albl for DyeStat

 

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y.  -- With the sun setting as the backdrop Friday evening, Northport’s Mikey Brannigan ran down the sidelines of the White Plains High School football field holding up one finger and shedding a giant grin. 

 

For the senior, this was his moment. 

 

Just minutes before, Brannigan was involved in what will go down as the best 3,200 race in the Glenn D. Loucks Games history. 

 

Brannigan won the event in a state-record and U.S. No. 1 time of eight minutes and 42.92 seconds. His time ranks 17th all-time on the 3200/2-mile list. 

 

“I’m feeling like shocked,” Brannigan said. “Just really shocked. It’s really early in the season.”

 

But it was more than Brannigan that made the night so memorable. Four individuals ran under 8:50, and 10 finished under the nine-minute mark.  Five of the top six times in the 3,200 in the country were established Friday evening. 

 

Along with Brannigan, runner-up Alex Ostberg of Darien, Connecticut (8:43.93), third place finisher Eli Moskowitz of Souhegan, New Hampshire (8:44.79), and Jack Salisbury of La Salle, Rhode Island (8:56.55), eighth, set all-time state records in the race. Fourh-place finisher Jeremy Spiezio set a new New York junior class record with 8:46.10.

 

“This race is probably going to be the best 3,200 I would venture to say in the entire country, this entire year,” Ostberg said. “So it’s pretty incredible to be a part of that.”

 

Ostberg established the record-setting pace right from the gun. The Stanford-bound senior said he knew if he wanted a shot to better his personal record this was the only way.   

 

“If you want to run fast, you got to take fate into your own hands,” Ostberg said. “So I knew the only way I was going to get close to my PR was to just go out and really push the pace.”

 

Ostberg led for most of the eight laps, as Brannigan, who ran behind him in second place for almost the entire race, overtook the lead on the bell lap. 

 

“We just kept pushing lap after lap,” Ostberg  said.

 

It was fight for the lead for the final 400 meters, but it was ultimately Brannigan’s speed that was the difference. 

 

He just found a pace that I couldn’t keep up with in the last 200 meters.”

 

Added Brannigan: “Last week I ran 1:51. I know I have a middle distance speed.”

 

Ostberg said with this meet the northeast has more than made a statement of what they are capable of producing.  

 

“The fact of the matter is, we’re getting close to matching that (Arcadia Invitational) caliber here, just in New York and it’s 20 minutes from my house,” he said. “It’s so cool to be able to attract such great competition. And I wish the meet the best of luck in continuing this awesome tradition to get people to run really fast times.”

 

For Mount Vernon’s Rai Benjamin, the 100 meter race was just for fun; yet the senior just about pulled off the win.

 

It was a photo finish as Anton  Porter of Mount St. Michael edged out Benjamin at the finish line to win the event in a time of 10.683.

 

Benjamin’s time was 10.686.

 

“I mean, it’s my second time running it this season, and I got a good start,” Benjamin said. "Anton…he dipped me at the finish line, I wasn’t expecting that but it’s alright.”

 

Benjamin, who was using the event as more of a speed workout, will focus on the 400 meter dash and 400 hurdles Saturday, his two signature events.

 

“I’m going to come out and run my best, I guarantee you that,” Benjamin said.

 

In the girls’ 100 meter dash, Brenessa Thompson of Medgar Evers  finished in first and broke the meet record in 11.83 seconds.

 

In the girls' 800, Rush-Henrietta’s Sammy Watson shook off some early nerves to put down a U.S. No. 7 time of 2:08.73 to easily win the event.

 

“I got into a good spot on the backstretch and then I kind of just tried to settle in,” she said.

 

Watson, a sophomore, said she was hoping for a U.S. No. 1 time Friday evening in a  talented field, but was pleased with her time at this point in the season.

 

“I’m still happy,” she said.

 

Rayvon Grey of Beacon stole the show in the field events, as he set a meet record in the long jump leaping 24-09.75 (wind legal), shattering the old record of 24-8 set in 1981 by Dwayne Pugh of H.D. Woodson, D.C.

 

His mark currently ranks US#4.

 

In the shot, Eric Favors of North Rockland, ranked sixth in the country, won with a throw of 62-1.



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TrackCoachMJR
and Maria Angelica Garcia won the RW in a US # 3 time.
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