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It's been a big season for Senior Reheem Hayles (Springfield Gardens), who continues to climb the national rankings. The long sprint athlete, who split time last spring between the track and the javelin, has taken big jumps on the indoor oval since last year. In 2019, Hayles took third in the 300m at the City Champs, behind two national elites from Christopher Columbus, who would go on to sweep the event 1-2 at states. In the spring, Hayles dropped his 400m personal best down to 47.94 at nationals, while maintaining his speed with a 22.11 in the AAU Circuit.
2020 saw Hayles move up to the 600m for the first time competitively, and he has taken to the event quite well. He opened the season with a 1:22.39, a personal best by over five seconds. Since then, he took a win over the 500m with a 63.81, good for Top 10 nationally. Running at the MLK Relays today, however, he took a step into the record books. Running away from the field by nearly 7-seconds, Hayles dropped a 1:19.10 to move to US No. 1 for the season.
The mark also has historical significance. It now stands at the sixth best 1000m mark run by a New Yorker all-time. Four of the athletes ahead of him on that list are also from the PSAL. Strymar Livingston (Christopher Columbus) carries the national record for the 500m and 600m, with the latter being set with a 1:17.58. Another PSAL athlete, Richard Rose (Boys and Girls) carries the freshman and sophomore national records in the event, culminating with a lifetime best of 1:18.40, good for NY #2 All-Time.
The mark sets up a big matchup at the state meet later this year. Previous state leader Joshua Peron (Frontier) had set the standard at 1:20.84, before he was surpassed. The caveat there is that Peron had done so on a flat track, against slower competition. Once the two meet together at Ocean Breeze, you can expect fireworks.