Wynne Splits 3:52.64 To Close Out Team Effort For Brooks Beasts, Who Take Down 2015 Record with 9:14.58

By Lori Shontz for DyeStat

Becky Holbrook photos

When it was all over, when he had recovered from running 1,600 meters alone in 3:52.64 in his season opener Friday night to help his Brooks Beast team set a world record in the distance medley relay, Henry Wynne found himself thankful for two things.

“I’m glad I didn’t see the lights,” he said, “and I’m glad I’m bad at track math.”

Wynne knew only that he had received the baton with a reasonable chance of anchoring the world record team, and he listened as his coaches called out splits, something he said he still can’t quite calculate on his own. He simply fed off the energy of the crowd, mostly high schoolers who had been competing all day, lining the outside lanes at Hayward Field, and he said he was running mostly on feel.

“It was pressure,” he said, “but such a fun atmosphere.”

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Just about everyone else was focused on the pace lights, which were set to the world record. That included teammate Isaiah Harris, who had handed Wynne the baton after his 800-meter leg. “The lights crept up on him, and he crept back,” Harris said. “It looked like he was battling someone.”

And he won. The Brooks Beasts team – Brannon Kidder, Brandon Miller, Harris and Wynne -- finished in 9:14.58, taking nearly a second off the record set by a U.S. team at the 2015 World Relay championships, 9:15.50.

“Seeing Henry, that last 200, pulling away from the lights – it was so hype for me and the boys,” Miller said. “It was a dream come true.”

The previous world record unfolded quite differently, with Team USA and Team Kenya engaged in a thriller. Anchor leg Ben Blankenship, competing in his first major international competition, got the baton with a slight lead over Kenya and about 1.5 seconds behind world record pace. Kenya’s Timothy Cheruiyot took the lead 200 meters in, but Blankenship eventually regained the lead on the final turn, then hung on. The Americans – Kyle Merber, Brycen Spratling, Brandon Johnson and Blankenship, sliced .09 off the previous record.

The Beasts didn’t have the advantage of a tight competition. While there were two other teams on the track, basically each man had to run his leg alone.

“We were talking about that on our shakeout today,” Kidder said. “Nine times out of 10, you’re racing, and the time just goes. Today was almost the opposite, letting the time be the governing factor.”

Kidder knew from studying the splits of the previous record that the leadoff leg “had a little bit in the bank” compared to the other legs. “The 800 was 1:44, which is a big ask for April,” he said. “So I was trying to give them as much time in the bank as I could and to take the pressure off of Henry. If you give him the stick and he has to run 3:48, it’s going to be tough.” 

That said, everyone on the team wanted the challenge.

When Brooks Beast coach Danny Mackey put a note in the group text about a month ago, noting that the Oregon Relays would feature a men’s DMR, Miller responded with the “eyes” emoji.  His teammates cracked his code immediately; they knew that on paper, they had a team that could beat the world record.

The team had been coming to the Oregon Relays for a few years to open its season – an easy drive and low pressure, perfect for a rustbuster. This opportunity made the trip even better.

“I knew we had the talent to do it,” Harris said. “But obviously putting it together on the day is a hard thing to do. And this was our season opener, so no one was really sharp yet.”

Kidder ran the 1,200-meter leadoff leg in 2:49.60, and when Miller got the baton, he knew he’d received “a little bit of a margin for error.” He didn’t want to let the team down, though, and wanted to complete his 400-meter leg in 45 or 46 seconds. Running a 400 for the first time in a couple of years, he split 46.60.

Next up was Harris, running his typical 800 meters. His plan: “go out hard the first lap, then do the best I could and let the crowd carry me in.” He knew he needed to run no slower than 1:45, and he split 1:45.75.

That meant Wynne got the baton with a chance to secure the world record with a reasonable split, low 3:50s. But he had to run it alone.

The last time he had run such a hard split alone, Wynne said, was probably when he was competing in high school. Which happened to be on his mind anyway, because earlier in the day, Harris had pulled up some “old-school” race highlights, including some high school races when he and Wynne and had competed against each other in New England. “I made him watch a few races where I beat him in the 800,” Wynne said, laughing. “To hype him up.”

Wynne got hyped by feeding off the crowd. He raised the baton in celebration after he crossed the line and enjoyed celebrating with his teammates – and the fans, most of them high school athletes.

“That’s an amazing way to open the season,” Harris said. “Do it for the brand, do it for the fans out there. It was exciting to see how excited the high schoolers who were watching were. It’s a cool feeling, you know, inspiring them.

“We want to keep people engaged in the sport past high school. There’s a big drop-off in people who watch after high school, and events like this engage people, make them feel more personally tied to athletes. I think it just gives them a reason to root for people.”

A few of the fans went home with the finish-line tapes, which the runners gave way. Then the Beasts ran a backward victory lap, slapping hands with the fans and basking in their accomplishment.

“If you start off your season with a world record,” Miller said, “it isn’t the worst thing to do.”

In the women's 800 meters, former Oregon star Raevyn Rogers of Nike's Union Athletics Club won in 2:02.00. 

Rogers tested herself by going out in 59 seconds and then trying to keep the tempo up for as long as possible on the second lap. 

Oregon's Klaudia Kazimierska finished second in a time of 2:03.28.