* Above - Butler HS senior Drew Griffith ran 8:34.91 to set the Two Mile National Record
Photo by David Nguyen | MileSplit
- - -
BOSTON -- It's official now. Drew Griffith ran himself into the record books.
After netting an unofficial national high school record for two miles in February, the Butler senior followed it up at New Balance Nationals Indoor on Sunday, and this time he simply left no doubt.
Griffith was well ahead of the pacing lights at The TRACK at New Balance and stopped the clock at 8:34.91, even improving on his former mark by four seconds. Last month Griffith made waves when he ran 8:38.67 on an oversized track at the Alex Wilson Invitational.
While the performance in February was an all-time, all-conditions No. 1, it wasn't counted officially as a national record, given that it came on an oversized track.
Griffith's performance on Sunday solidified himself in the record books. If the record still technically was there, he sliced five-seconds off of it, downing Edward Cheserek's 8:39.15 from 2013.
Griffith raced like a metronome, ticking off laps of 31-32-seconds from start-to-finish. He closed in 62 seconds for the final quarter-mile and ran 30 seconds over the final 200 meters.
To add to his already impressive run, Griffith won the race by 15 seconds. A year ago he finished fourth in this same race.
Over the fall, Griffith became one of the nation's best distance runners, winning nine of 10 races. He culminated his season with a victory at Foot Locker Nationals.
Related Links:
King Quincy! Bullis School Star Takes Down Crazy 400m Record
National record highlights and meet records from Day 3 of NBNI
