Kyle Merber Wins Millrose

NEW YORK – He kept shaking his head, like he was trying to wake himself up.

But it wasn’t a dream. More like a dream come true.

Kyle Merber won the boys high school mile at the 101st Millrose Games tonight at Madison Garden in 4:13.86.

“That was one of the greatest experiences of my life,” the Half Hollow Hills West senior said.

Merber, who commited to Columbia, knew his race plan and executed it to perfection. He stayed in contact with the leaders, kept out of trouble and avoided Manalapan junior Robbie Andrews’ kick. The crowd hanging over the railing just beyond the finish line was as large as any professional runners’ and before long he was off on a victory lap and tossing his red headband into the crowd – relishing every second.

“There are the kinds of things that you always dream about and ay that you want to do,” he said. “This is one of them, and to actually do it in from of some many of my friends and family is just unbelievable.”

Most expect a strategic race at the Millrose Games, but the tempo was torrid from the beginning. Merber stayed in third, no matter who led the race, no matter pressured his back shoulder. Then when with three laps to go he made a move toward the front. With two laps remaining he grabbed the lead but Andrews – and his dangerous kick – was on his heels.

Merber kept cranking. Andrews couldn’t take him. Merber pulled away. He never thought he had it.

“Not until the last second,” Merber said. “I just kept running like he was right on top of me.”

The girls invitational mile was just as exciting.  But you would have never known that Southern Regional’s Jillian Smith missed two days of school. You would have never known she woke up two days ago and could barely breathe.

“Great, perfect timing,” she thought then.

You would have never known all that the way Smith raced at the Millrose Games. Not with the way she never fell off the pace, the way crept in behind Carmel’s Kristin Reese. Not by the way she owned the race in the last 200 meters and matched the feat her former teammate accomplished last year. Smith, a junior, won the girls high school invitational mile at the 101^st Millrose Games in 4:50.87 tonight at Madison Square Garden a week after winning the invitational mile at the Boston Indoor Games.

Last year, Smith finished fourth at the Millrose Games. Former teammate Danielle Tauro, now a freshman at Michigan, won the race. Smith came in the favorite, especially after setting the nation-leading time in the mile in Boston (4:48.83). But nothing comes easy.

“She came in Wednesday and just didn’t look right,” Southern Regional coach Brian Zatorski said.

A day later, Smith’s mother called Zatorski to tell her she wasn’t coming to school. She had a sinus infection. Smith visited the doctor Thursday and still went to practice. Somehow she woke up Friday feeling better.

“I felt a 100 times better,” she said.

Zatorski said: “I picked her up today and she had a whole box of tissues and never used them.”

She never showed any signs of struggling. Smith never dropped the pace with Reese decided to make certain the pace stayed honest.

“She did a great job of kind of rabbiting the race,” Smith said. “Kristin ran great. I  really worked out great for everyone that she went out like that.”

Reese finished third in 4:56.21, a vast improvement from her other two Millrose appearances when she finished eighth and 10^th. Cory McGee of Pass Christian was second in 4:55.52. Smith though, was just happy she could keep it in the Southern Regional family. She made her move with a lap remaining and decided the race by the back straightway.

“The last lap I was just looking for the finish line,” she said.”

The Mayor’s Cup PSAL girls 4x400 was one of the most anticipated high school events with Boys & Girls and Cardozo, two of the best relays in the country, going head-to-head for the first time this season. Boys & Girls Deandra Nelson took over the lead, passing Cardozo’s Cody Newman, on the second leg and Boys & Girls unseated the returning champs in 3:53.17. Cardozo finished second in 3:58.51.

“We were a little surprised,” Nelson said. “We expected her to run last. But our plan was to just run hard and run tough and have fun.”

Meghan Gillespie kept close behind Muhammad and once Kenesha Abrams handed the baton to Rodriquez the race was virtually over. Rodriquez anchored in 54.7.

“This meant a lot to us,” Nelson said. “As a first-timer the rush that you get from being here is like nothing you ever did before. It’s just really a lot of fun.”

Bishop Ford’s Shanique Dasilva, Shanyce Goulding, Shekinah Lorey and Malekah Holland won the CHSAA girls 4x400 in 4:03.34. Last year, Bishop Ford finished third in the race, this time they spent most of the race in the lead and Lorey gave them the lead for good on the third leg.

“I felt like crying,” said Holland, a sophomore. “I felt like I had something great in my life. … You get so nervous when you come here but you still have to come out and do what you have to do.”

“I was just jumping up and down like crazy,” she said. “That’s what we’ve been working for all season.”

Just before the lights came on for the Wanamaker Mile (where Bernad Lagat won for the sixth straight time in 3:57.51) the CHSAA boys 4x800 nearly stole the show.

Kellenberg won a hotly-contested race in 8:02.29. Chaminade had led for most of the race and Fordham Prep was riding Kellenberg’s shoulders for nearly three entire legs. But when Kellenberg’s third leg broke the race open and the anchor Thomas Elnick just lengthened the gap. Chaminade couldn’t recover. They finished in 8:06.29. Warwick Valley won the Border Clash boys 4x800 in 8:03.13.

Reach Christopher Hunt at chunt@armorytrack.com.