Record run by U.S. medley
Simpson anchors women’s foursome
The United States rocked an All-Star lineup in the distance medley at last night’s New Balance Grand Prix and the world took notice.
With teammates Emma Coburn, Sydney McLaughlin and Brenda Martinez cheering her on from the infield of the Reggie Lewis Center, Jenny Simpson gritted her teeth over the final 200 meters of the mile anchor leg and crossed the finish line with an indoor world record of 10:40.30.
The time eclipsed the 10:42.57 record set last year in the same meet.
McLaughlin briefly lost the lead to New Balance Europe’s Esther Guerrero on her 400 leg, but surged back in front and was clocked in 52.33 seconds when she handed off to Martinez.
“I tried to keep myself relaxed,” McLaughlin said. “I knew she was going to try to go by me. It was a tough race. It pushed me to go a little faster.”
Martinez, the only runner back from the unit that set the mark in 2016, was confident the lineup was primed for a possible new standard.
“It was a great team and I thought we could shave a few seconds off,” said Martinez, who clocked a 2:01.94 in the 800 leg.
Olympic 1,500 champion Matt Centrowitz Jr. held off challenges from Vincent Kibet of Kenya and Great Britain’s Jake Wightman to win the mile in 3:55.78. Centrowitz closed the last 400 in a blazing 55.2 for the victory. Kibet was clocked in 3:56.09 and Wightman registered a 3:57.24.
Kenya’s Hellen Obiri used her impressive kick to hold off Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands in the women’s 3,000. Obiri looked vulnerable with Hassan bearing down on her and two laps to go, but she switched gears for the 8:39.08 victory. Hassan was second at 8:40.99.
“I’m very happy to win,” said Obiri. “I felt strong and was looking forward to a fast finish.”
The showdown between world record-holder Jenn Suhr and 2016 Olympic-champion Ekaterina Stefanidi of Greece in the pole vault never materialized as Suhr was forced to pull out of the competition with an injury. Stefanidi went on to win easily with a height of 15-2 1⁄4.
“I’m not super excited about the height,” said Stefanidi. “I’m happy to win and this is my first meet of the season, so I can’t expect too much or be too disappointed.”
Stefanidi went back to a longer approach on the runway and felt comfortable with the results.
“Everything went very well actually,” she said. “I’m a very bad competing-alone person, so the second I won the competition I kind of relaxed. I jumped a decent height. Jenn was hurting. She said something before the meet and she didn’t push it, which is smart.”
The girls’ junior mile had a local cross country flavor with All-State Division 1 champion Grace Connolly of Natick and Bridget Mitchell, the Div. 2 champion, both in the field. The sophomore phenom Connolly raced to an indoor personal best of 4:56.02 for fourth overall while Mitchell took ninth in 4:59.29. Jacqueline Gaughan sprinted past Abbe Goldstein in the final 200 for the win in 4:52.57 as the top nine all cracked five minutes.
Connolly was surprised by the slowish early pace with such a talented field.
“I was expecting it to go out a lot faster than we did,” she said. “I knew this field would be competitive. It’s my biggest race of the season.”
Mitchell, who set a personal best of 4:57 two weeks ago in a Bay State Conference dual meet, spent the second half of the race fighting to move up.
“I was trying to get in the second lane and get a good position, but everyone else was trying to do that too,” said Mitchell.
Newburyport’s Jack Carleo surged across the finish line for sixth in the junior mile in 4:20.68.