American Fork Senior Full Of Run In Historic 5,000 In Boston

By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor

Ian Terpin photos

Daniel Simmons' long list of distance running accolades added one of its most impressive displays of fitness on Saturday at New Balance Nationals Indoor.

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Simmons pushed himself through the fastest high school 5,000 meters ever indoors and the fastest ever in a high school-only race. He turned consistent laps between 32.5 and 33.5 seconds and then closed his final 800 meters in 2:05.

His coach at American Fork High in Utah, Timo Mostert, watched from home. 

"Training has been going well," he said. "Daniel is fully recovered from his illness in January and February. We had a good race place going in and he was consistent in his splits."

One of the boxes that Simmons checked was qualifying for the 10,000 meters at the USATF U20 Championships in Eugene in June. His teammate, Ben Jaster, also squeaked under the standard by placing third on Saturday in 14:19.95. 

Simmons and Jaster were part of American Fork's No. 2 all-time 4xMile relay on Thursday. 

Paul Bergeron of Westford Academy MA was second in 14:14.57.

Tyrone Gorze of Crater OR held the record for one year: 13:56.82. Simmons had finished second to Gorze in last year's NBNI race and this time blew that record apart. 

Much of Saturday was about setting up Sunday's blockbuster lineup of finals with prelims and semifinals filling most of the schedule. Sunday's action begins at 9 a.m. Eastern and national champions will be crowned in 30 events. 

Champions were crowned in the multi events. Jackson Mackay of Banting Broncos (Canada) won the boys pentathlon title with 3,833. He beat another Canadian, Cooper Williams, by two points.  

Yulia Maslouskaya of IMG Academy FL won the girls pentathlon with 3,627 points. 

Lions TC (Archbishop Carroll DC) won the boys 4x200 relay in 1:26.47.

Bullis MD closed the day by winning the girls 4x200 relay title in 1:35.84.