By Senior Correspondent Marty Ogden, Editing and Graphics by Ron Knapp
After a few early season invitationals, the first big meet of the season is upon us. The CT Distance Festival is returning for the 6th year on Friday night at Hall HS in West Hartford CT and just like the past five, some of the best times in the nation will surely be run. Meet directors Jeff Billing of Hall and Chris Stonier of Xavier have once again assembled an outstanding field.
This is a unique meet that only conducts the 5000m and mile events. While there are qualifying standards of 17:30 (boys) and 20:30 (girls) for the 5k, all entrants can run the mile. Expected entries include 62 boys in the 5000m and 15 for the girls 5k. The boy’s Seeded mile has 78 athletes expected to compete who have run under 4:45 and the girls Seeded mile has 62 athletes who have run under 5:45. The meet also has entries for 184 girls and 295 boys of all abilities who will run in the earlier Unseeded heats of the mile.
The faster sections will be held later in the evening with the girls championship mile going off around 7:30 and the boys Tom Butterfield Boys Championship Mile taking place around 7:45. The Girls Championship 5k will be held around 8:00 pm with the Robert Michalaski Championship 5k expected to start about 25 min later. The winners of the Girls Mile and Boys Mile will automatically be qualified for the top-seeded heat of the famed Loucks Mile later in May.
Top entries in the boys mile
Jamie Lano from Coe Brown, NH. He was 18th at New Balance Nationals Indoor in 4:15.00 and was part of the New England championship 4x800m last outdoor season.
Daniel Coyne of Simsbury, State Open 800m champion in 2023 and has shown off his range with a 4:15 mile last year.
Owen Martin and Jack Oullette were the two longest legs on Xavier’s All American DMR last year as sophomores. The pair have gone 4:18 and 4:15 and should be a factor if they are on pace.
Another junior who is beginning to make a name for himself is Cole Francis of Narragansett, RI. He was 4th at New Englands this indoor season in 4:18.81 and 6th in the RI Cross Country Championships.
Manchester’s Cian Gara Grady was 5th last year at the Distance Festival and worked his way down to a sub 4:20 mile to finish 8th at the State Open.
Devon Rosemark of Danbury was 3rd at the State Open in the 1000m this indoor track season and finally broke 4:20 for the mile at the Ocean Breeze Elite Invitational. Last year at this meet, he…
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