The Saratoga Springs girls, the national outdoor record holders in the 4xmile, were back in action for the longest relay on the track on Saturday at the New York Relays, lining up for the 4x1,600.
Running the same lineup as their winning 4xmile team at Outdoor Nationals 2021 and at Nike Indoor Nationals this March, the girls took home the title in 19:48.59.
Ella Kurto (4:59.63), Alycia Hart (5:04.21), Mackenzie Hart (4:53.48), and Emily Bush (4:51.25) combined for the best effort over the distance this spring, edging out former U.S. No. 1 Newbury Park, CA, which had just run 19:48.81 at the Mt. SAC Relays and re-set the fastest ever at the distance.
The converted mark stands as US No. 3 all-time on the 4xmile list. Metric events are converted up to legacy marks for record keeping purposes.
Only seven teams have ever broken 20 minutes in the relay outdoors and two have been accomplished by Saratoga Sprints in the last two years.
When you include the indoor marks, that number bumps up to 10 teams total. Two of those additions are Saratoga Springs again, with the final being the absolute national record set by Flower Mound of Texas this year Indoors, at 19:37.78.
Absolute records are indoor marks that better their outdoor equivalents, more typical in field events than on the Track.
The early season time by Saratoga sets up a potential matchup between themselves, Newbury and Flower Mound down the road. Currently, there are four postseason national invitationals, three of which will most likely carry the full 4xmile as an event.
Saratoga attended Nike Outdoor Nationals to set their record in 2021 and will most likely return. Could we see another shattering of the record as we did last year?
Stay tuned to find out.
All-Time 4xMile List
Race Starts at 6:30.55