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Elite wins by Knudsen and Hart headline Magis MilesPublished by
By Michael Newman
Chicago – Meet Director Ed Ernst did not need to find a pace setter for the Women’s Elite 1 Mile Run at Friday’s Magis Miles on the St. Ignatius College Prep campus. He had Glenbard West’s Katelynne Hart to do it. It was high school athletes that headline the elite mile races as Illinois state champions Soren Knudsen of Minooka and Katelynne Hart won closing out a great night of mile races. Former Geneva star McKenzie Altmayer now at Syracuse University was supposed to pace the Women’s Elite 1 Mile Race. It was apparent from the start that Hart would be doing her own pace work like she has all season. The freshman ran side-by-side with Altmayer for the first lap as the two passed by the 440-yard check point in 69.3 seconds. It was all Hart after that as she started to pull away from Altmayer. The rest was all Hart as the three-time state champion went through 880-yards in 2:21.3 and with one lap to go at 3:35.2. She closed the final lap in 71-seconds to cross the line in a personal best 4:46.54 for a full mile. Hart passed through 1600-meters in 4:44.92. “I saw the results before the race that Lexy Halladay had run 4:41 at Boston tonight. I just wanted to run 70-second laps tonight,” Hart said afterwards. “I felt really good tonight. I wish I could have just given it a little bit more. Overall, I am really happy in what I did.” High School runners took the next two spots as Minooka’s Mackenzie Callahan finished second (4:58.27) followed by Dwight’s Daly Galloway (5:00.90). The scenario in the second section of the Men’s Elite 1 Mile Run was completely different for Minooka’s Soren Knudsen. Patience was his virtue in this race as he worked his way through a field of college and professional runners to take the win. Kyle Hauser of Illinois-Chicago whipped up the pace early through the first 440-yards in 56.8 seconds. Knudsen was content to stay in the back passing through that point in still a swift 60.8 seconds. Joe Coffey of St. Olaf was on pace to go under four minutes at 880-yards as he passed through in 1:57.5. Knudsen was starting to move up in that second lap as he moved close to the other high school athlete in the race Dylan Jacobs of Sandburg. The two seemed out of the race as they passed through in 2:02.5. Coffey started feeling the fast pace on the third lap as the pack closed nearer to him. One of those runners was Knudsen who had to go to lane three to pass Jacobs down the home stretch as they entered the final lap. The future Northern Arizona University student/athlete had more in his tank as his pace continued to ramp up as he passed Coffey with 300-meters to go. Former Sandburg runner Chris Torpy now at Miami/Ohio went with Knudsen hoping to get the opportunity to pass. That never happened as Knudsen continued to stretch out the lead. As he entered the final 100-meters, there was no runner that was going to catch Knudsen on this night. Knudsen had quite a past seven days winning state championships last Saturday in the 3200 and 1600 Meter Run. He added the title in this race as he crossed the line in 4:05.58. “I was just thinking about myself in his race. I am not a guy who goes out in 57-seconds so going out in 60-61 seconds is fine with me,” said Knudsen. “In the third lap, I was thinking courage and commitment. Once I made that move, I had to stay committed to it. The last lap was pretty tough. If someone would have come up on me, I would have had another second. I’m happy with this.” WATCH KNUDSEN’S INTERVIEW HERE Luke Brahm closed the gap in the final 50-meters to finish second (4:06.79) behind Knudsen. Jacobs closed hard in the final stretch to run a personal best of 4:09.09 to finish sixth. The high school races had a West Suburban Conference Silver Division feel as runners from two of the conference schools captured wins in the two races. Grace McCabe of Hinsdale Central took the lead 880-yards into the race going through that point in 2:30.3 with a pack of runners close to her side. She started to accelerate entering the final lap pulling away from the pack. The junior saw her personal best drop by 12-seconds as she crossed the line in 4:57.39 for the win. The story of this race was Marianne Mihas of the Latin School who finished second in the race behind McCabe. The eight-grader won the IESA 1600 Meter Run in 5:11 almost three weeks ago. She improved on that by eight-seconds in this race finishing in 5:03.85. York’s Charlie Kern noticed the pace was slowing down during the second lap of the Boys High School Mile. He moved out of a pack into lane here hen surged o he lead passing he halfway point in 2:09.2. He ran 61.5 on the third lap opening a lead on the pack. Kern looked to the side with 100-meters and saw Lyons Township’s Danny Kilrea and Geneva’s Tyler Dau coming. He held on for the win (4:13.20) ahead of Kilrea (4:14.27) and Dau (4:15.25). |
