Willemse Rallies Badgers Past Princeton In Women's DMR; Shenendehowa NY Girls Run No. 1 High School Time

By Oliver Hinson for DyeStat

John Nepolitan photos

NEW YORK — The University of Wisconsin DMR squads secured NCAA-leading times and the Shenendehowa NY girls DMR squad ran to the top of the national high school list on the first day of the Dr Sander Scorcher at the Armory.

The Wisconsin men’s squad ran 9:52.88, beating the previous No. 1 time by three seconds and fending off a challenge from runner-up Monmouth. Sophomore Archie Noakes, who hadn’t raced in a year before this meet due to injury, ran 4:07 on the anchor leg, closing with a 56-second 400.

“I definitely feel really fit,” Noakes said. “I’m at about 20 weeks of training coming back from injury now, and I guess today is a really good sign. I felt really comfortable in that first 1,200 and then just picked it up in the last 400.”

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Australian Olympian Adam Spencer, who is running in the pro mile Saturday with a Millrose Games berth on the line, took the 800 leg for the Badgers, running 1:53. He said there’s a chance his mile race could be “a little bit slower” with a fast 800 in his legs, but he also believes this performance helped him get used to the feeling of racing again.

“Some of my best races, I’ve done some hard 800s, some hard workouts in the days leading into them,” Spencer said. “I think it wakes the body up.”

The Wisconsin women, meanwhile, went under the previous No. 1 time by nearly 20 seconds, and it took a substantial comeback to make that happen. At the bell, anchor Leane Willemse was four seconds behind Princeton, but she clocked a 31.5 on her last lap to take the victory in 11:16.71.

“When I came around the first turn, I looked up and I was like, ‘Oh, I’m really close,’” Willemse said. “So, I was like, ‘I’m gonna put the hammer down, go for an all-out sprint, and see if I can get her.’”

In the high school girls DMR, Shenendahowa ran 12:01.67, taking 14 seconds off the previous nation-leading time. Leyla Bhusri threw down a 4:58.39 anchor leg to overtake Cornwall Central NY and Sachem East NY in the last half mile.

“I saw the gap getting closer and I knew I felt like I had more in me,” Bhusri said, “so when I got the chance, I went by (Cornwall) and tried not to look back.”

In the men’s invitational 3,000, Hofstra’s Abraham Longosiwa separated himself from the pack early, building a six-second lead through the first mile. Even after pacer Colin Daly stepped off the track, Longosiwa kept the pace hot, and he cruised to a win in 7:58.92.

Both high school 800-meter races produced Top-10 performances. Tatnall DE’s Katie Payne ran 2:12.43 in the girls race, building off a third-place finish in the 1,000 meter run at the VA Showcase last weekend and claimed a new US#9. In the boys race, Luke Pash of Ridgewood NJ broke his indoor PB by nearly three seconds, crossing the line in 1:53.23, good for US#6.

Olympic Trialist Dontavious Hill won the only pro field event of the day, the men’s high jump. Hill chose to skip 7-2.25 after clearing 7-0.25 on his first attempt, and that move paid off. He cleared 7-3.25 (2.22m) on his second try and earned the win over Earnie Sears and Kyle Rollins. At the Trials last summer, Hill suffered a no-height result, but he said he wasn’t going to let that experience stop him from being confident in competition this year.

“I don’t want to let (my Trials performance) define me,” Hill said, “and I don’t want to change who I am, so I’m gonna keep skipping heights if I feel the need to do so.”