SHORE AC DELEGATION PLAYS BRILLIANT ROLE AT THE ARMORY'S CLASSIC 117TH MILLROSE GAMES ON SUPER BOWL WEEKEND

BY  ELLIOTT DENMAN   On a brilliant LIX Super Bowl weekend, XXIV Shore Athletic Club athletes
performed Superb-ly, too, at the CXVII edition of the classic
Millrose Games at the famed Nike Armory Track Center,
CLXVIII Street and Broadway in the upper reaches of The
Big Apple.
  A day before Philadelphia’s Eagles stunned Kansas City’s
Chiefs, XL-XXIV, in the Big Game in New Orleans, our guys
displayed plenty of gusto, as well.
  The Millrose festivities actually began on the Thursday before the
Saturday main events, and the Shore AC  delegation – just as the
Eagles, a franchise that once played at Franklin Field, home of
many a Shore AC triumph  over the years – got off to a great start, too.
   It beganwith Elisia Lancaster’s rousing toss of 21.97 meters/ 72 feet,
1 inch - that won the  women’s weight throw  by a decisive margin.
   It continued with Paul Brennan’s PR throw of 20.10/64-11  1/2
(for Manhattan University, where in graduate school he’s extendng his college career after h isgreat years at Princeton) which was good for third place in the men’s weight event.
  And then the Millrose Games really got going  with Saturday’s full slate of action.
  We’ll now take things in order as things unfolded.
   Kicking it off was a solid fourth place in the mne’s distance medley – just seconds out of medal range - as the quartet of
Brian Hill (3:03.58 1200 split), Michael Twist ( 51.12 400), Kyle Spector (1:57.76 800 ) and Jack Shay (4:09 ??1600 anchor) checked in at 10:02.32 a club all-time record clocking.
   How’s this for dedication to the club cause?   Brian Hill came in from Ann Arbor, Michigan and Jack Shay from Flagstaff, Arizona for the privilege of carrying the club’s colors in the biggest invitation indoor meet in the world.
  And then our master-ful Masters delegation came through with a series of great races.
   The quartet of  Steve Guillen,  Scott McGhee, Greg Calhoun and Ron Brock  carried the baton around in 4:09.87   to win the men’s 50-up 4x400 title.
   SAC’s Kerry Gillespie, Harry Nolan, Spider Rossiter and Ivan Black raced their eight legs in 5:47.87  for an excellent second place in the M70 category.
    Shore AC really did “win” the M60 4x400 title,too, as Bill Hughes, Rich Alexander, Rick Lee and Matt Wallack finished far ahead of for what appeared as a solid win.  (For amazing Rick, it was  a little speed work for his upcoming schedule of major marathon and ultra-maraton races!!)
    Moments later, the controversy began.
    Did leadoff man Bill Hughes, running in lane one, actually cut in too early, as some thought.   Or was he perfectly fine – and as his teammate felt, “how can you have a “cutting in” violation when you’re already running from lane one?
   Well, the apparent “win” stayed as official for about 48 hourss, before it was rescinded – by that mystery DQ verdict – and the win given to the Greater Philadelphia AC  – who actually finished a lot farher back in 4:32.48.
 Yes, it’s likely that this one will be debated for years and years and years.
  Next, it was Shore AC’s turn to run the men’s 4x200 relay.
   Remember, this is an event that a Shore AC quartet  had run the meet record time of 1:27.01 back in 2014.
   Back in fine form for SAC was the terrific Kelly Fisher – now a member of the
SAC varsity unit coaching staff – and he anchored the team home with a 22,3 split for a team clocking of 1:34.87  in fifth place.  Preceding him were Brian Dominguez, George Alexandris (a few years back the NCAA Division III long jump champion for Montclair State, and Anthony DiMaulo.)
    The Millrose show, of course, raged on until 6 pm, and the featured segment (4 to 6 pm) was seen by a nation-wide (NBC and Peacock) audience and a global   viewership (supplied by Wordl Athletics.)
   When all results were in, just past 6pm, spectators filing out of the
Armory knew they’d seen one of history’s greatest indoor meets, by a cast of  magnificent athletes, many just half a year from glories at the Paris Olympic Games.
   Consider these:
  Notre Dame grad Yared Nuguse (third placer in the Paris 1500 final), lowered the world indoor mile record to a sizzling 3:46.63 over Hobbs Kessler (3:46.90) and Cam Myers ( 3:47.48 for a world junior record. ) Get this:  seventh place Andrew Coscoran (3:49.26) even bested the classic then-world record 3:49.78 in 1983 by Eamonn Coghlan, to set an all-time Irish record.
   And Coghlan –the famed Villanovan and Chairman of the boards- was there to see it happen.
    The top eight broke 3:50 and three more ran sub-3:56.
    Two-event  (5,000/10,000) Paris medalist Grant Fisher came through with a
WR 7:22.9 in the men’s 3000, outdueling Olympic 1500 champion Cole Hocker (7:23.14.)
 Josh Hoey – the standout of the Shore AC-hosted Monmouth Mile at CBA last August – delivered a brilliant American 800 record of 1:43.90, fighting off Olympic furth-placer Bryce Hoppel (1:44.19).
   Hours earlier, Ever Palma of Mexico steamrollered an all-star global pack of rivals in the men’s William Pollinger one-mile racewalk, with a  world best-ever clocking of 5:24.50  (and passed the muster  of the closely-watching panel of judges). Perseus Karlstrom of Sweden (5:32.34)  was also under the world mark (5:33.53  by USA’s Tim Lewis at Millrosein 1983).
    The Millrose mile walk, of course, is an event near and dear to all
Shore AC fans,    Todd Scully won it three times (and his 5:55.,8 in  1979 made him the Roger Bannister of racewalking as first man under 6 minutes) and SAC teammate Jonathan Hallman then followed with four wins of his own – 2013,2015-2016-2017.   Said four-time racewalk Olympian Ron Laird, based in Buchanan, Michigan, when the results were in: "Holy Cow.”  
  (Ron is a happy man these days, knowing that his glittering, record-size display of 65 National AAU gold medals) has found a winter home at the Armory-based National Track and Field Hall of Fame, and a rest-of-the-year base at the NY Athletic Club.
   (The medal-display handover was made, Laird to Curt Clausen / now president of USA Track and Field) at the Shore AC-hosted “90’s Gala”  at McLoone’s Pier Village, Long Branch, on Nov.24.)
    Lots of dear Shore AC friends competed superbly at Millrose, too.
   NCAA pole vault champion Chloe Timberg of Rutgers placed fourth in the women’s PV at the Armory.
   Josette Andrews (beloved wife of famed Shore AC Olympic star/national 1500 champion  Robby Andrew ) ran a quick 8:29.77 for second place in the women’s 3000 meters.
   Toms River High School North’s blazing quartet of Mordecai Ford, Camryn Thomas, Tayshaun Winslow and Amadia Diawara ran a brilliant 3:14.91 for second place in the Invitation HS 4x400 relay, just back of  IMG/Florida’s 3:14.39, but ahead of top squads from North Carolina, Michigan and Maryland.
  And there was lots and lots and lots more.
   Just check your local listings (Track and Field News, Runblogrun.com, MillroseGames.org, NJMilesplit.com, ete etc) for full details.
  And a day later it was the Philadelpia Eagles turn to monoplize the headlines .
Jumping off to a XXIV-to-zero lead  on the KC Chiefs,  they coasted in for the XL-XXIV win.
    For sure, there was glory in it for all this Super weekend.