Due to a decline by one of the nine original selections for the high school boys' mile at the Millrose Games, Thomas Edison senior and Foot Locker All-American Leoule Degfae will now be joining original selections and fellow Virginians Tyler Stutzman of Western Albemarle and Bobby Peavey of Kellam in the prestigous race. The state of Virginia will represent a third of the total field with the top three finishers from the Montgomery Invitational mile race two weeks ago.
Stutzman won the race in Landover, Maryland to virtually cement his spot in the Millrose field in a US #4 time of 4:14.91, while Peavey and Degfae had to sweat out their selections as they had to wait to see how others on the East Coast ran on faster banked tracks up north. Peavey followed up his runner-up finish to Stutzman by posting another swift time this past weekend in the 1600 meter run at the Eastern Challenge with a 4:14.84 win. Peavey and Degfae also have the nation's #1 and #2 fastest times for 3200 meters at 9:08 and 9:13 respectively this season.
The mile at Montgomery was Stutzman's only race thus far this season compared to Peavey and Degfae who have already competed in several invitationals, but he will competing at Virginia Tech this weekend as he tunes up for the big race in the Big Apple.
The Millrose Games high school boys' mile race will be held Friday, January 30th on the 11 laps to a mile banked track at the Madison Square Garden in New York City.