A Dramatic Close To Day Two Of Nationals Thanks To Old Bridge & Geneva
In one of the more exciting races of the day, Old Bridge (NJ) held off second-place finisher Spirit of St. Louis (MO) to take the 4x800-meter relay with a winning time of 7 minutes, 39.38 seconds. The quartet of senior Ed Zalek, sophomore Rey Rivera, junior Gerard D’Ambrosia and senior Hazem Miawed improved on their nation No. 1 by nearly three seconds. Spirit of St. Louis finished just .29 behind for the runner-up position with Ridgefield (CT) taking third at 7:44.27.
Miawed secured the crown for the New Jersey squad with an 800-minute split in the low 1:50s.
“I just wanted to stick on their kid because all week my coach was telling me the national champion is the first to get to the tape,” he said. “It doesn’t matter how fast you run, how you beat him, just get to the tape first.”
In the girls’ race, Geneva (OH) cracked nine minutes with a winning time of 8:59.03 (US #4). The Ohio-based school finished 10-meters ahead of runner-up Western Branch (VA), which was timed in 9:02.78.
Of note was the performance of Kamryn McIntosh of Suffern (NY). The gifted tenth-grader had the fastest split of the day with a 2:05 effort, a time that lifted the New York squad to third overall with a time of 9:04.13.
- Results: Girls 4x800 - Boys 4x800
- Photos: Girls 4x800 - Boys 4x800