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 Dalilah 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.”
The 500 meters meant to be a showcase of the top sprint/middle distance runners around including Ije Iheoma of Council Rock South (third) 1:14.05), Zoey Russell of Fredrick Douglass (fourth, 1:14.49), Hempstead’s Charlene Lipsey (1:16.09) and Amber Allen (sixth, 1:19.58).
Muhammad was second in 1:13.20. Outside of Price and Lipsey the field was comprised of primarily quarter-milers. Price said she never began a race from the down-start position.
“I wanted to go out hard,” she said. “I was hoping to bring them through in 54. I didn’t get out as fast as I wanted. Starting down was a little rough for me. It was my first time. I just popped straight up when the race started. It’s just another thing that I have to work on.”
The way Price talks it’s clear that every race, every little mistake, every victory is another step toward the Olympic Trials this summer. Even a national record is part of her sprint work as she prepares for the end of the season and USA Indoor Championships next month. Her race at the New Balance Games was probably her most competitive since racing at the USA Outdoor Championships in June.
“It was strange,” she said. “I normally don’t have to go through that. They were definitely right there. But that’s what you have to expect when you’re in a race full of really good sprinters. But once we got over there on the back straightaway you could see my 800-meter strength kicking in.”
The boys invitational mile didn’t have the same talk surrounding it but the race definitely had the same type of excitement. Manalapan (N.J.) junior Robby Andrews settled into the back of a tight pack but while he was being pushed around and boxed in the race seemed to be unfolding in front of him.
That was until Andrews came up from fourth place, swinging wide with 250 left. He zipped down the straightaway and took the lead. But what started as a surge to the front morphed into a monstrous finishing kick that buried the field before he started his way into the final turn.
“I just felt like I had a lot left and I didn’t know how much they had left so I decided to go,” Andrews said after setting a personal best and the nation-leading time, winning the mile in 4:12.48.
But the gear that Andrews found no one else had. It was the type of frantic surge that made it seem like he had saved something extra.“I was just scared that somebody was going to catch me,” he said. The win earned Andrews an automatic berth to the invitational mile at the 101st Millrose Games at Madison Square Garden Feb. 1.
Kristin Reese of Carmel also earned an automatic bid, winning the girls invitational mile in 4:52.65, the fastest-time in the country so far this season. Her time also broke the Section 1 mile record. Reese was pushed to last off the starting line but by the 400-meter mark she worked through the crowd into the front.
Then she just kept pouring pressure of the girls chasing behind. It was the biggest win of her high school career against the one of the most competitive field she’s run in.“I felt like it’s about time,” she said. “I feel like sometimes I never win (the big races). So I’m really excited. … And I got to break the tape. I always wanted to do that.”
Uniondale High graduate Shavon Stoddart led the entire race in the elite women’s 400 meters. But just before the finish the former South Carolina standout was edged by Alicia Williams. Williams won in 53.33, the fastest in the world in this early part of the season. Stoddart, a 400 hurdles specialist, was second in 53.51. Dwayne Barrett, a former star of the now-defunct team at St. John’s, won the elite men’s 400 in 47.12.
England’s Andy Baddeley outkicked Adrian Blincoe of New Zealand in the finishing stretch to win the men’s mile in 3:59.29. Blincoe, also broke the 4-minute barrier finishing second in 3:59.98.
Reach Christopher Hunt at chunt@armorytrack.com.