Weekend Recap: Beyond Maton

By Alex Fox

 

​If you were on social media at all over the past couple of days, you already know that Oregon bound Matt Maton ran the third fastest high school miler in American history, clocking in a 3:59.38. As we all drool over the potential matchup between Maton and Fisher at the Dream Mile later this season and the unprecedented possibility of two sub 4 high schoolers in one season, a lot of other big times were dropped this past weekend. Let’s take a break from the Maton craze and give everyone who dropped big times this weekend some love.

 

​What’s a better place to start than my home state of New York? This weekend was the Loucks Games, and some really big times were dropped. On Thursday, the big race was the DMR, which featured four teams from the east coast running 10:12 or faster. The winner of the event was Tappan Zee, clocking in at 10:09.09, featuring Luke Gavigan on the anchor. During indoor, I wrote a love letter to Gavigan about how he was the most clutch racer in New York and how he would continue his dominance over James Burke. Since that post, I have only been burned by Gavigan, as he was blown away at states by Burke, and ran poorly at Indoor Nationals and at Penn Relays. As I was finally giving up on Gavigan, he clocked in a 4:05 split this weekend out of absolutely nowhere. It’s nice to see this guy back in form, as hopefully he can continue to build on a really solid weekend (Gavigan went on to win the mile in 4:12). Collegiate’s Marco Pomplilj also had a fast split in this relay, but unfortunately Gavigan’s split was the only one recorded, but I would estimate it at around 4:10. In addition to the DMR, Loucks featured a strong 800, which was won by Gary Springer from Thomas Jefferson in 1:52.62, just one hundredth of a second in front of James Asselmeyer. Seven runners went 1:54 or faster, and a total of 32 runners broke 2:00 for the event. The 400 featured Richard Rose and Rai Benjamin, with Rai taking the win in 46.67 over Rose’s 47.89; Benjamin also dominated the 400 hurdles, winning by nearly three seconds in 51.71.

 

​So, this already sounds like a pretty solid meet, but I haven’t even gotten to the best race of the weekend, and arguably the season…the 3200m. Mikey Brannigan continued his dominant season by winning the race in 8:42.92, setting a New York state record for the distance. Brannigan led a field of ten sub 9 minute runners, which featured 4 under 8:50. Alex Ostberg padded his resume with a 8:43, and Eli Moskowitz and Jeremy Spiezio, who are both headed to the Ivy League next year, clocked in at 8:44 and 8:46 respectively. In addition to Brannigan and Spiezio, three other New Yorkers broke 9 minutes, including the often over looked John Rice (8:54) and juniors Connor Lundy (8:55) and Aidan Tooker (8:51). Almost lost in the shuffle of these great times was the fact that La Salle Academy in Rhode Island had two runners sub 9 and another runner at 9:00. Equally amazing is the fact that all three runners (Jack Salisbury, Matt Bouthillette, and David Principe Jr.) all return next season. Can you say dynasty? But back to Brannigan: Outside of maybe Andrew Hunter, this kid is having one of the best all-around seasons in the country. I know Fisher and Maton both ran 3:42 and Maton broke 4, but look at what Brannigan has done across the board: his 3200 was #17 all-time, he leads NY in the mile with the 4:09 he ran at Penn and the 800, as he ran 1:51 earlier in the season. The dude is absolutely killing it, and his accomplishments should not be lost in all the sub 4 talks. There is a very real possibility that we could seed multiple guys running sub 8:40 for the two mile (Hunter and Brannigan), and that’s pretty special.

 

​We get it, Loucks was incredible and Maton broke 4, it was an awesome weekend, why am I still writing? Well, at the same meet Maton became just the sixth sub 4 high schooler, Levi Thomet and John Dressel both dropped some pretty sweet times as well. Thomet ran 4:07 in the heat before Maton, and continues to fly under the radar as one of the best runners in the country. Being from Alaska, Thomet is out of the spotlight most of the season, but he did clock an 8:48 inside for two miles, and has continued to impress this outdoor season. Thomet spurned running collegiately (at least for now), as he will run professionally in Germany next season. I look for Thomet to grab some attention later this season, as I expect him to continue to run fast at the Brooks PR Invite in June. Dressel also continued his consistency, as he clocked in at 8:20 for the 3k. It’s nothing out of this world, but this kid always seems to run well. I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again: I really think Dressel will be something special as he continues his career under the genius that is Mark Wetmore at Colorado. Finally, at Arizona’s state meet, Carlos Villarreal took home three victories, including a 4:03 in the 1600 and a 1:50 split in the 4x8. I don’t know a ton about this guy, but given his performance this weekend, I hope to see him with some other big guns at the Dream Mile. Lastly, before I go, an eighth grader from Florida ran 10.6, 21.2, and 47.7 in the same day. Yep, you read that right. I hope you enjoyed this crazy weekend of running as much as I did!