Quick paces expected in Boston mile/1,500

By Mary Albl for DyeStat

With the New Balance National Outdoor Championships and Brooks PR Invitational both taking place this weekend, it was the allure of a fast pace and big names that was too enticing in the end for La Salle Academy's (R.I.) Jack Salisbury to pass up

Friday evening at Dilboy Stadium in Somerville, Mass. Salisbury will compete in the adidas Boost Boston Games Dream Mile.

The two-day meet takes the place of the adidas Grand Prix which featured the Dream Mile in New York. The meet shifted cities this year, as Saturday's main event will be held in downtown Boston.

"I figure the field would probably be better at adidas, because one, there's  a pacer, and two, I kind of knew it was confirmed (Thomas) Ratcliffe would be doing it," Salisbury explained. "So I knew (with) the pacer and Ratcliffe would make a faster race, it made it an easy decision; plus it's only an hour away."

Salisbury, who is coming off an 800 meter New England title win, enters with a 3:52.10 1,500 and a 4:10.11 mile time this spring. The heavy favorite is Concord's Ratcliffe.

Ratcliffe, who will run for Stanford this fall, and is roughly 30 minutes away from the meet, enters with a U.S. No. 4 mile time of 4:01.50, which he ran earlier this month at the Adrian Martinez Classic.

Ratcliffe and Salisbury last met at the New Balance Indoor Championships in March when they competed in the 2-mile. The last mile race they went head to head in was the Indoor Grand Prix mile, which Salisbury won in 4:08.33. Ratcliffe was second (4:08.74).

Salisbury said the plan heading into Friday's race is to go for the win.

"Compete for the win," he said. "If I don't get it, I'm not going to be upset, it's a great field, but at least compete for it and get under 4:05, and I think I'll be happy with that."

Joining Ratcliffe and Salisbury will be a handful of other talented runners including national 3,000 leader (8:15.01) Eduardo Herrera of Madera South, CA. Herrera also owns a U.S. No. 6 mile time of 4:04.99.

A possible sub-four minutes mile isn't out of the question for the competitive field.

"I don't know," Salisbury said. “I think I can run 4:02, 4:03."

The girls high school 1,500, which was moved from the mile to accommodate Olympic Trial qualifying standards, will be a repeat battle of the Portland Track Festival.

Katie Rainsberger (4:12.62) and Ella Donaghu (4:14.11) both excelled in the 1,500 meter event on Sunday. The two will be joined by Lake Braddock (VA) junior Kate Murphy, who own a U.S. No. 4 1,500 time of 4:14.26.

Caitlin Collier of Jacksonville, FL enters as one of the youngest competitors. Just a sophomore, Collier own a national-leading mile time of 4:46.63.

Junior Nevada Mareno out of Raleigh, N.C. enters with a 4:47.36 mile time.

Margie Cullen of Needham is the local favorite. Cullen comes in with the second fastest 2 mile time in the country (10:27.59).