(Photo by @rhodeandtrack)
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Legendary Oregon runner Steve Prefontaine once said, “Somebody may beat me, but they’re going to have to bleed to do it.”
While it was Devan Kipyego that was bleeding at the end, the Saint Raphael Academy senior made eventual winner Jackson Heidesch of Iowa earn every bit of his victory in the Championship Mile of the New Balance Nationals on Sunday
Every last meter.
Demonstrating the guts and determination that we’ve all been accustomed to the last two years, Kipyego nearly pulled off the win before a highly-charged, packed house on the meet’s final day at the TRACK at new balance. In a grueling, down-to-the-wire battle the last straightaway, Heidesch edged a diving Kipyego at the finish, clocking 4 minutes, 2.25 seconds to the SRA standout’s 4:02.30 effort. Both runners collapsed to the oval, clearly showing the results of what just happened seconds earlier.
“You can only be a national champion once in here. I was just hoping I could be a national champion. Props to Jackson,” said Kipyego, about the Dowling Catholic senior, who was second in the 2M on Friday night. “He’s a great competitor. He’s always here to race the best.”
Kipyego was in the race from the beginning among a stacked field that also included two-mile winner and sub four-minute miler, Connor Burns. For the first 800m, at least six runners were still in contention. Heidesch, a front-runner for most of the eight laps, Kipeygo and Kole Mathison separated from the group by 1,200m, passed in 3:01.90. Shortly after, Kipyego and Heidesch broke from Mathison and it became evident which two runners would be fighting for the title.
Kipyego made his move to the front with a lap remaining.
“I took the last lap, the last 100 meters. I was feeling good. I knew it was going to be a battle the last 200 meters,” he said. “I took it there. Maybe coming back, I should have just done it the last 100 meters and try and take it the last curve…He ran a great race. I dove at the end to try and win it. There’s nothing else I could do. Nothing would have changed it.”
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Kipyego’s performance highlights an incredible weekend on the meet’s final day by our RI athletes. Who else found the podium, who else PR’d on Day 4? We’ve already had several All American, some school records and even a few state marks, too.
Rising Stars Events
- West Warwick’s Xenia Raye blazed to a time of 7.93 in the 60m dash.
- The Wizards’ Damon Wilson clocked 8.42 in his prelims of the 60m hurdles.
- Hendricken’s Ethan Chamley was eighth in the weight throw with a heave of 52-6.75.
Freshman Events
- La Salle Academy’s Marshall Vernon concluded a successful weekend at NBN with a three-second PR in the 800m. Vernon nearly won his heat with a time of 2:03.16 to finish 17th among the 50 competitors. Vernon was also 14th in the mile on Friday with another best of 4:34.88. On Saturday, he ran a 4:33.06 leg on the school’s 4xMile squad that was timed in 18:50.12.
