Collier, Hasty Run Eye-Popping Times at Music City

By Brian Towey of DyeStat

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Caitlin Collier and Brodey Hasty put together a pair of stunning high school performances Saturday at the Music City Distance Carnival at Vanderbilt University. 

Collier ran to a No. 4 all-time 2:00.85 against a pro field in the women's 800 meters. 

Hasty, from nearby Brentwood, was paced by a variety of runners -- including Leo Manzano and Mason Ferlic -- to a near-high school record time of 8:00.92 in the 3,000 meters. Hasty ran alone in the late stages of the race and closed the final 800 meters in 2:04.3. His time is No. 2 all-time behind German Fernandez (7:59.83 en route to 3,200m) and ahead of Galen Rupp's former record from 2003. Drew Hunter ran 7:59.33 for 3,000 meters indoors.

RESULTS

For Collier, fresh off a US#1 4:38.34 mile May 19 at the adidas Boost Boston Games, she was aiming for a PR time lower than the 2:02.77 she ran at the Florida state meet. 

The Bolles School FL senior fell in well behind the leaders, passing through 400 meters in seventh place at a 59.53 clip.

"I was super nervous before (the race) because I knew what a talented field it was," Collier said. "I had to mentally prepare myself that I might finish last. And for 400 meters, I was (in last)."

Collier stayed in contact, however, showing life around the 200-meter mark. She surged into the final straightaway, chasing down three runners to finish a close fourth behind Ohio Northern's Emily Richards (2:00.67), Claudia Saunders (2:00.75) and Agnes Abu (2:00.77).

"I knew they'd come back to me in the last 200 meters," Collier said. "I got to the outside and started passing people."

Bolles School middle-distance coach Matthew Morris also brought two younger runners, freshmen Kate Hastings and Lane Rivera, to Nashville for some exposure to out-of-state competition. 

"We really want to get our times down (to compete at meets like these) and to come out and support Caitlin," Hastings said. 

For Collier, it's been a momentous spring.

"Two weeks ago I ran the mile and had a big PR," said Collier, who will run at Stanford next year.

"In training this week, I was feeling off. This was a much bigger mental battle against myself. I realized I could go out and run against all those other women."

Hasty ran at the Prefontaine Classic last week and though he ran a 4:04.53 against a pro field, he was chasing the race throughout and finished last. 

But Hasty showed his fitness Saturday by running a sensational time in a race with erratic pacing. 

His coach, Guy Avery, called the race "a satisfying effort and we're happy for it."

Hasty will travel to Seattle for the Brooks PR Invitational next week and has a decision to make about which race to enter. 

Elsewhere, Cameron Ponder of Mount Tabor NC surpassed Hasty's mile time at Pre by running 4:04.24 for a US#1. Ponder drove past Dalton Hengst and ran a final lap in 57.42 seconds to win the race and finished less than a half second off Craig Engels' all-time North Carolina high school mile record. 

Rebecca Story of Christian Academy of Knoxville TN ran 4:49.57 and edged out Sasha Neglia of Dobyns-Bennett TN, who was second in 4:50.69.

Green Hope NC's Ian Delgado, running against professionals, ran a US#3 1:49.71.

Sixteen years ago, the Music City Distance Carnival started as a tribute by meet director Dave Milner to Kibby Clayton, who served as Milner's "American Mom" after he'd moved from England in 1995 to run at Belmont University in Nashville. That first year, the tribute to Clayton, who'd managed the Nashville Striders Running Club, was a series of 5,000-meter races at Harpeth Hall School, an all-girls high school in Nashville. 

On Saturday in Nashville, the Music City Distance Carnival, or MCDC, steadied itself as a world-class meet. 

"It's a very cool, low-key meet," said Milner, who by turns donned a glittering, gold suit jacket and prodded athletes to strike a 'PR Gong.'

"That's why people run fast. You can't do stride-outs at the USATF Championship. Here, you just go up to the starting line and run."

Among the pro performers, Canadian Genevieve Lalonde won the women's 3,000-meter steeplechase in 9:38.84. And CSU-Pueblo sophomore Thomas Staines, the NCAA Division II national champion at 800 meters, stunned a professional field with an audacious 1:45.57 win. 

Milner, a canny MC with the microphone in hand, prowled the infield with glib jabs. An air of casualness prevailed, despite the blazing-fast Mondo track and the names on the jerseys. 

A part of the evening belonged to Geoffrey Cheruiyot, a Middle Tennessee State steeplechaser who was killed in a car accident on Interstate 40 between North Carolina and Tennessee on Thursday. Milner, who'd asked Cheruiyot to participate in the event before the crash, led a 70-second block of silence for Cheruiyot. the equivalent of a steeplechase lap, while urging the crowd to clap Cheruiyot through his final lap.