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Staples High senior-to-be Hannah DeBalsi clocked a nation No. 3 of 10:03.24 for the two mile this spring at the Brooks PR Invitational in Seattle, Wash., in June.
By
MARY ALBI
Alex Ostberg still gets goosebumps when he thinks back to May 8.
It was at White Plains High School in White Plains, N.Y. when he was part of an historic 3,200-meter race at the Glenn D. Loucks Games.
That warm Friday evening the then Darien senior led a grueling pace that propelled four guys to under eight minutes and 50 seconds. Ten runners total finished under nine minutes.
“I think that showed the essence of the sport at the purest level,” said Ostberg, who will be heading to Stanford in a few months to begin his freshman year. “We were all maxing ourselves out physically and mentally. Though I feel like I can take some responsibility for that quick pace, I think every person who ran in that race contributed something.”
New York’s Mikey Brannigan was the winner (8:42.92) in what went down as one of the best Loucks Games races in history, and easily one of the best 3,200 fields this past spring in the entire country.
Ostberg placed second (8:43.93) setting a state record and was under the previous meet record. He finished the season with the second-fastest 3,200 the country. The top 4 times in the nation are all from that race.
Ostberg was just one of many Connecticut runners that benefited from such a deep, talented and arguably one of the finest distance fields in recent years.
This spring, two male prep runners clocked under four minutes in the mile, six total finished with times under 4:05.
Ostberg, who also finished the outdoor season with the No. 2 3,000 time (8:23.95) in the nation, season was cut short due to an injury. Despite missing the postseason and the chance to churn out even better times, he said he still felt like he benefited from what occurred nation-wide.
“Being a part of such an amazing senior class and such a record breaking year was really awesome,” he said. “Seeing new U.S. No. 1’s times on almost a weekly basis was really exciting and it certainly keeps you motivated to train harder. Despite the fact that I didn’t run in the postseason, I felt like I experienced the successes of my senior class vicariously. There was so much positive energy that helped motivate everyone to run so fast at the end of the season.”
Recent Darien graduate Alex Ostberg leading the pack in the 3,200m at the Loucks Games. The Stanford-bound runner finished second with a time of 8:43.93.
But it wasn’t just Ostberg that gained from the new levels of distance running.
Rising Brien McMahon senior Eric van der Els finished with the fourth-fastest 5,000-meter time in the country (14:41.05), as he placed third at New Balance Nationals. Darien’s Army Noonan, who will be a senior this fall, placed sixth in the 2-mile at nationals (9:05.82), a top 20 time, while the Ridgefield 4x800 relay placed third (7:44.27) and ended with the 20th-fastest.
The Connecticut girls also made headlines/
On the national-scale, distance running saw more runners reach faster and consistent times.
Staples’ Hannah DeBalsi, who will be a senior this fall, ended the year with the third best 2 mile. She placed third at the Brooks PR Invitational in Seattle in June (10:03.24). That same race featured five girls run 10:12 or faster.
DeBalsi explained the times are dropping more due to a continuous cycle rather than one single factor.
“There are more athletes entering bigger meets and getting pushed to faster times,” she said. “Other runners are exposed to these great performances through websites like MileSplit and Flotrack, and I think seeing high-schoolers run crazy times inspires others to reach higher and enter bigger meets, run faster times, and so on.”
On a whole, 13 girls in the nation ran under 4:45, 10 under 4:43 and three runners finished under the 4:40 mark.
“I think 2015 showed that high school distance running for both boys and girls is becoming increasingly competitive, and I hope the trend continues. I also hope the faster times in high school competition translate to faster times for American pros on the world circuit,” DeBalsi explained.
Tolland, which became the first girls program in Connecticut state history to win the cross country, indoor and outdoor State Open track titles, finished the year with the 10th-best distance medley relay time (11:54.44) and fourth fastest 4xmile (20:17.87) time in the country, which was also a state record.
Coginchaug’s Jessica Drop won the emerging elite mile and then the DMR squad won EE category in a meet record time of 11:57.06.
While a crop of talented runners in Connecticut are departing, there are many waiting to pick up right where distance running left in the state and continue to reach new heights.
“I wish the class of 2016 luck in keeping the tradition alive,” Ostberg said. “I hope to see more record-breaking performances next year and I hope that distance running can stay on the same trajectory that it’s been on for the past few years. It’s exciting to watch so much young talent emerge. If I could do high school all over again, I would in a heartbeat, so I encourage all of the youngsters to make the most of their own high school running careers while they can.”