Principe, Mareno Lead Junior Mile Fields at New Balance Indoor Grand Prix
Stellar high school competition expected on Saturday, Jan. 28 in Boston at the Reggie Lewis Track & Athletic Center
From New Balance Indoor Grand Prix
BOSTON – DJ Principe, ranked #1 in the U.S. this season in the Mile and 3000 meters, and Nevada Mareno, who earlier this month won a bronze medal competing on Team USA in the Great Edinburgh Cross Country International Challenge, will lead some of the nation’s top middle-distance runners in the Junior Mile at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix, organizers have announced.
The New Balance Indoor Grand Prix kicks off at 3:30pm on Saturday, Jan. 28 at the Reggie Lewis Track & Athletic Center at Roxbury Community College, and is the only U.S. stop on the IAAF World Indoor Tour. The series of five international events will begin in Boston and award overall winners $20,000 and a guaranteed spot at next year’s IAAF World Indoor Championships. Now in its 22nd year, the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix has played host to eight World Records and 13 American Records. Tickets are now on sale at www.nbindoorgrandprix.com or by calling 1-877-849-8722.
Principe (LaSalle Academy, RI), the 2016 New Balance Nationals Outdoor champion at 5000 meters who finished fourth here last year, hopes to bring LaSalle back-to-back wins in the event, after Jack Salisbury’s victory in 2016. He will be challenged in the Boys’ Junior Mile by:
• Josh Hoey (Bishop Shanahan, Downingtown, PA), ranked #1 in the U.S. at 1500 meters and the 2016 Penn Relays Mile winner;
• Connor Lane (Cardinal Gibbons, Raleigh, NC), eighth in the 2016 Foot Locker Cross Country National Championships and the 2016 state champion at 3200 meters
• Jack Carleo (Newburyport, MA), ranked #3 in the U.S. at 800 meters and the 2016 stat Division II cross country champion
• Patrick O’Brien (Oyster River HS, Durham, NH), the 2016 state champion at 1500 meters and 3000 meters indoors, 1600 meters outdoors and cross country
• Nicholas Dahl (Germantown Friends School, Philadelphia, PA), a top-five finisher at 2 Miles in the 2015 and 2016 New Balance Nationals Outdoor and the 2016 independent schools state champion in the 1600 meters and cross country
• Mars Bishop (Barrington, RI), 2015 state indoor champion at 600 meters
• Alexander Korczynski (Windham HS, Willimantic, CT), 2017 Dartmouth Relays Mle winner
• Ben Kovacs (Saint John’s HS, Shrewsbury, MA), 2017 East Coast Invitational Mile winner
• Sam Toolin (North Kingstown, RI), seventh in the 2016 New Balance Nationals Outdoor Mile
• Brendan Balthis (Tatnall HS, Wilmington, DE), 2017 AT&T Coaches Hall of Fame Invitational 2 Mile winner.
In the Girls’ Junior Mile, Mareno (Leesville Road HS, Raleigh, NC) brings a glowing resume to Boston, including a win at the 2015 New Balance Nationals Indoor Mile, a runner-up finish in the 2016 Foot Locker Cross Country National Championships, and more than a half dozen individual Division 4A state titles. Her bronze medal performance in Edinburgh on Jan. 10 led Team USA to the Junior Women’s title. Considered by many to be the top distance recruit in the country, Mareno will toe the line alongside:
• Abbe Goldstein (Germantown Academy, Fort Washington, PA), ranked #3 in the U.S. at 1500 meters and #4 at both the Mile and 3000 meters, as well as the winner of the 2017 Hispanic Games 1500 meters
• Kelsey Chmiel (Saratoga Springs, NY), ranked #2 in the U.S. in the Mile and winner of the 2017 Hispanic Games 3000 meters
• Anna Juul (Unionville HS, Kennott Square, PA), #2 in the U.S. at 1500 meters and #3 in the Mile
• Grace Connolly (Natick, MA), the 2016 Division 1 state cross country champion who finished ninth in the 2016 Foot Locker Cross Country National Championships as a sophomore
• Bridget Mitchell (Milton, MA), the 2016 Division 2 state cross country champion who finished second in the 2017 Dartmouth Relays Mile
• Jacqueline Gaughan (Exeter, NH), 11th in the 2016 Foot Locker Cross Country National Championships and the 2016 state indoor champion at 1500 meters and 3000 meters
• Leya Salis (Bedford, NH), 2017 East Coast Invitational Mile winner and 2016 state indoor champion at 1000 meters
• Mia Nahom (New Milford, CT), fourth in the 2016 New England Championships at 1600 meters
• Tiara Tardy (Mount Desert Island HS, Bar Harbor, ME), runner-up in the 2016 Class B state cross country championships
• Lily Flynn (Ursuline, New Rochelle, NY), winner of the 2017 Molloy Stanner Games 1000 meters.
Among athletes who have competed in the Junior Mile over the years are two who went on to win Olympic medals at 1500 meters in Rio: gold medalist Matthew Centrowitz, who was Junior Mile runner-up in 2007, and bronze medalist Jenny Simpson, who finished sixth in 2005. Both are among the headliners expected to rock the Reggie on Jan. 28, along with fellow Olympic medalists Jenn Suhr, Ekaterini Stefanídi, Emma Coburn, Clayton Murphy, Paul Chelimo and Hagos Gebrhiwet and rising American stars Candace Hill, Noah Lyles and Donavan Brazier.
