Results from Saturday on the road, track and cross-country courses:
— Under Armour Dark Sky Olympian Neil Gourley won the inaugural road mile in New Zealand called The Spectacle on Saturday, and his time of 4:03.10 reportedly was the fastest ever recorded in that country down under.
His Dark Sky teammate, Vince Ciattei, finished fourth. Gourley edged New Zealand’s Sam Tanner and — like last week’s road mile in Honolulu — he also beat the top woman, Georgia Griffith for the overall title. The women were given a 32-second head start.
Interesting side note: According to Dave Monti of Race Results Weekly and RunnerSpace: “When he arrived at the international airport in Auckland on Wednesday, he realized too late that he had forgotten he had a banana in his luggage. New Zealnd’s notoriously strict bio-security laws dictate that travelers cannot bring any fruits of vegetables into the country.” He was fined $230 but not detained.
— Back in the U.S., at the Footlocker Nationals in San Diego, Flagstaff High School’s Yohanes Van Meerten, only a sophomore, squared off against 40 of the best prep boys runners at Balboa Park and finished 11th in 15:47.4. Van Meerten ran a consistent race. He was12th at the one-mile mark, part of the large pack, fell back a little to 20th at the halfway point, but picked up ground on the downhill to move back up to 13th at two miles.
Van Meerten, who came into the race after finishing third in the West regionals last weekend, was the second-fastest West finisher behind Washington state’s Vincent Recupero, eighth in 15:44.6
— At the Zatopek meet in Melbourne, Australia, Dark Sky’s Jack Anstey, running on his home turf, finished a close third in the elite 3,000-meter race won by countryman Cameron Myers in 7:41.11. Jackson Sharp, Hoka NAZ Elite’s newest signee, finished eighth in 7:59.31.
— Several Team Run Flagstaff masters runners — Ryan Baker, Sean Baker, Ryan Guldan, Will Drexler, Anthony Gallo and Michael Madsen — competed in the USATF Cross Country Club Nationals Saturday in Tacoma, Wash.
And Hosava Kretzmann, also of Team Run Flagstaff, ran in the elite open race and finished 56th in 33:25.
Ryan Baker was by far the top Flagstaff finisher in the Masters 40-50 division in the 10K, finishing 27th overall in 35:59 on a soggy, wind-swept course abutting the Puget Sound. Baker steadily moved up as the race progressed. He was 53rd after 3K, 40th after 6K and 37th at the 8K mark.
Gallo placed 30th overall, moving up 22 places between 3K and 6K. His time: 36:04. Guldan placed 105th in 39 minutes, moving up eight spots in the final 2K. Madsen was 132nd, Drexler 150th and Sean Baker 171st.
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