Edward Cheserek (St. Benedict's Prep) led his team to victory in the DMR with a 4:07 1600 meter leg for a 10:14.54 clocking.  Cheserek then came back in the 2 mile with an impressive victory in a time of 9:02.49.

Before the race, Strymar Livingston paced back and fourth, in and out the arena, just to take a look at the national record posted on the board in the corridor just outside of the track, the record that he just missed three weeks ago.

  Each week Milesplit will be highlighting the top athletes across the nation.  Please make sure the results from meets in your area are sent to your state webmasters so we can keep our rankings accurate and up to date.  We don't want to leave anyone out! 

 The first in a 4 part series by Aron Taylor.  Part 1 spotlights Andrew Bumbalough, Molly Huddle, Blake Russell, Hannah Valenzuela (Apple Valley, CA), Ammar Moussa (Arcadia CA) and Craig Lutz (Flower Mound, TX).

                      At this weekend’s VHSL Group AAA State Championships, many teams will only have one or two athletes entered.  Western Branch can enter 10…in one race.   Desmonae Gray, Taranisha Taylor, Shamia Lassiter, Devin Mitchell, Alana Calhoun, Tiffany Ellick, Javette Lee, Ramona Thomas, Cierra Cutshaw, and Jamesha Richard are the young ladies who claim 10 of the top 20 spots in the Group AAA hurdle rankings this season.  All 10 are at the state qualifying mark of 8.66 or better.  Only 3 (Gray, Richard, and VMI signee Cutshaw) are seniors.  This is a truly ridiculous and dominant group of runners, led by 2 highly-acclaimed coaches.  (Photo by Ryan Kelly)

Ryan Crouser, OR, launched a monster 77-02.75 on his 5th throw to crush his own National record, set at 75-03.50 during his 2nd throw.  Andrew Irwin, Mount Ida AR, won the pole vault with a T-US#4 All-Time performance.  The clearance was a stunning PR and US#1 mark of 17-04.50.   (Photo by H. Michael Roberts)

 Ryan Crouser (Sr., Barlow) returns this season as one of the top throwers in the country.  Photos by Kim Spir.  Cover photo on National; Right photo - Ryan is on the right (#65) standing with his cousin Sam Clouser (on left).

  Each week Milesplit will be highlighting the top athletes across the nation.  Please make sure the results from meets in your area are sent to your state webmasters (email located at the bottom of the front page on each state site) so we may keep our rankings accurate and up to date.  We don't want to leave anyone out! 

Located in the Hall of Fame area at Abington High is a plaque hanging right next to the locker room entrance. It’s not just any plaque to the members of the boys’ track & field team.   (Photo courtesy of Brian Deck)

Bernard Lagat set a new American Record for 2 miles with his run of 8:10.07 at the Armory to shave almost 5 seconds off the old record of 8:15.02 by Doug Padilla set 21 years ago. Lukas Verzbicas (Sandburg IL) ran a time of 8:43.24, just off the national record for US#3 All-Time!  

On a miserable day back in December, St. Benedict’s (N.J.) Prep sophomore Edward Cheserek finished a mere two seconds behind individual winner Lukas Verzbicas at the Nike Cross-Country Nationals in Portland Meadows. Another 100 meters and head coach Marty Hannon believes his star runner could have possibly defeated the two-time champion and Illinois phenom from Sandburg High.

 A new week of America's Top Talent brings some new US#1 times including some "All-Time" top ten marks.

Strymar Livingston (NY) US#2 All-Time 1:18.01 | Verzbicas US#3 All-Time 4:03.88 | Shenendehowa (NY) girls 9:10.91, Abington (PA) boys 7:45.93 4x8's. (Photo by Vic Sailer, PhotoRun.net)

Illinois distance phenom Lukas Verzbicas will join Bernard Lagat Saturday night as Lagat in the 2-mile at the NYRR Saturday Night at The Armory III, meet director Jack Pfeifer confirmed late last night.

  Photo by Ryan Kelly   Grassfield senior Jeremy Greenwald had not run the 1000 meters in competition since the 2010 state meet, but he certainly didn’t show any rust at the Suffolk Stars Invitational in mid-January.  Taking the lead before the pack rounded the first turn, Jeremy clicked off metronome-like splits of :29, :59, 1:29, and 1:59 to finish in a US#1 2:29.76. Jeremy (pictured right by Ryan Kelly) was gracious enough to give MileStat.com some of his time this week in between a college visit and a trip to the New Balance Collegiate Invite at the Armory this weekend.  Jeremy will compete in the 1000 meter run on Friday night against an absolutely loaded field featuring 6 runners ranked in the top 9 in the nation at that distance this year. 

The second week of America's Top Talent has some new faces in the top 10.  Photos by Don Rich and Brandon Miles.

National Signing Day for cross country and track is here! This time marks the first day that an athlete can sign a national letter of intent to their college destination.  Athletes have until August 1st to announce their choice. Find out where your favorite athletes are headed!

Claudia Francis could have picked any school in the country. Anyone would gladly have her. The Cardozo senior is the best half-miler in the country and probably still has the biggest upside of any high school runner you can think of. And she picked the Unversity of Oregon.

 Aisling Cuffe , right, of Cornwall Central High School receives the 2010-11 Gatorade National Girls Cross Country Runner of the Year trophy from Allyson Felix, a professional runner and gold medalist, Tuesday, Feb. 1, 2011 in Cornwall-on-Hudson, N.Y. Photo/Gatorade.