Brodey Hasty To Attempt National Record In 2K


NASHVILLE, TN --  At the Early Bird Endurance Invite to be held in Brentwood, Tennessee, on Saturday, Brentwood High senior Brodey Hasty will attempt to break Galen Rupp's 14-year-old national record in the 2K of 5:18.5.

Hasty, who clocked 4:00.05 for the full mile indoors at the Millrose Games at the NYC Armory in February and then repeated as the 2-mile national champion at New Balance Indoor Nationals on the same track about a month later, will make his outdoor debut at the comparatively low-key Early Bird Endurance meet.

"It is not a very commonly run distance," admits meet director Dave Milner, who also heads up the Music City Distance Carnival. "But it adds a little excitement to the meet and fits really well into Brodey's outdoor build-up."

Hasty will have to run laps of 63.6 to duck under Rupp's mark, which was established in 2004 and run north of the border at a small meet in Richmond, British Columbia. 

Aside from trying to beat the clock, the University of Oregon-bound senior will have his hands full with a field that favors quantity over quality. 

Sampson Laari, a 3:58 miler and 1:46 two-lapper who hails from Ghana, is the strongest runner in the field. Like Hasty, Laari ran 4:00 for a mile indoors during the winter. He placed third in the mile at the 2017 NCAA Indoor Championships for Middle Tennessee State University.

Hasty's classmate at Brentwood High and training partner, Scott Thompson, will tackle the five-lap race also, and he may well eclipse Rupp's mark if his recent form is any indication. Thompson, a Princeton signee, has a mile PB of 4:08.22 set outdoor last year and has already run 1:52.48 and 4:08.95 this indoor season.

Quamel Prince, an occasional training partner of Hasty's, will be running, too. Prince, who graduated from Tennessee State University last year and is coached by Milner, recently placed fifth in the 800m at the USA indoor championships and has a two-lap best of 1:46.76. He ran a time trial in the 1200m back in January in 2:57.8. 

The field is still growing, but among those who have also committed to the 2K so far is August Pappas, who was a standout runner at University of Michigan and has a 5K PB of 14:08.