By Christopher Hunt

There hasn’t been a race at the Armory hyped like this one. Not a high school race.

But in this building, their names are as familiar as any runner signed to Nike or Adidas or New Balance. So the thousands of people could shout for Easton (Pa.) senior Chanelle Price or Dahlilah Muhammad of Cardozo, and they could shout on a first name basis. And they didn’t make it hard.

Price charged into the bell lap with Muhammad only a step behind and the crowd at the New Balance Track and Field Center as loud as it’s been all season. Whenever Price enters the Armory people expect something special. In her own way, she expects the same from herself. No one left disappointed.

Price mashed the national record in a much-ballyhooed invitational 500 meters today at the New Balance Games. She finished in 1 minute, 10.30 seconds, breaking a mark of 1:11.44 set by Devon Williams of Towson Catholic (Md.) set in 2005.

“For Dalilah and I there was a lot of pressure to break the record,” Price said. “I think if we didn’t break it people would have been disappointed. So yeah, there was pressure there but it comes with the sport. I love this sport. That’s just the way it is.”