Most track meets start in the morning or early afternoon, but on Saturday, April 21st, the Palatine Distance Night took place in the evening.  This meet is devoted to distance runners and running PRs (personal record). The only events at this meet are the two-mile, mile, 800, and distance medley relay (DMR).  Whitney Young had a runner in the two-mile (Charlie Nevins ‘19) and two runners in the mile (Clayton Mendez ‘18 and Sam Rivera ‘19). Additionally, Whitney Young also had a DMR.  This relay consists of the first leg running 1200 meters (Rahul Mikkilineni ‘18). The next leg runs 400 meters (Lorenzo Bautista ‘19). Then the next leg runs 800 meters (Dashaun Edwards ‘19).  Finally, the anchor runs a mile (Luke Lasley ‘19).

In the two-mile, Charlie ran a PR of 11 seconds and finished with a time of 9:26.81.  In the mile, Clay won with a time 4:08.6 and set the meet record. His teammate Sam came after with a time of 4:14.7.  Clay’s time ranks him in the top five in the nation. In the DMR, Rahul split a 3:30, Bautista ran a 53.2, Dashaun ran a 2:05, and Lasley capped it off with a 4:36.  Luke had this to say about his race: “I’ve never competed in this kind of race so it was kind of cool to be a part of this relay. I’m excited for next year!” In the mile, Sam and Clay’s combined time puts them #1 in the nation for combined mile times of two teammates.  Clayton was very happy with his performance as seen with his take on the race, “I was trying to go out hard for the first 1200 meters and hold on for the end. I’m grateful for how it ended and excited for the rest of the season.”

The boys team has their next meet at Ignatius High School on Wednesday.

Video of Sam and Clay’s Race

Video of Charlie’s Race