Results
Dylan Rowell (Anacortes, WA) defending his home turf in Washington to win the Brooks PR Invitational Mile breaking the 4:00 barrier in the process running 3:59.93 against a stacked field.
After winning the 2 Mile earlier in the day, Marcelo Mantecon came back to help the field by taking them out through 800m as all of the entrants were eyeing the sub 4 minute Mile barrier. Brian Burns (Bentonville, AR) ran 3:59.73 earlier in the week with Andrew Beroset (McCallie School, TN), Rocco Culpepper (Niwot, CO) and Abdinasir Hassan (Northfield, CO) each finishing in 4:00 in the same event.
Rowell held a 4:09.14 Mile Personal Best coming in, but had run a 4:03 1600m twice in recent weeks with a 4:03.10 at the 2A District 1 Championships, and a 4:03.65 en route to a WIAA 2A State Championship last weekend. Rowell completed the 2A triple winning the 800m in 1:55.18 and 3200m in 8:50.12 over the multi day WIAA State Championships.
Mantecon took the field out right on pace going through 809m in 2:00.24 with the field all in tow. Rowell would come through in 2:01.47 in the middle of the pack biding his time. Burns would make a move to the lead on the third lap coming through in 3:01.77 as the race was coming down to he, Rowell and Beroset over the final lap.
Rowell moved wide down the backstretch passing Burns just prior to 200m to go. He'd put a lead on Burns and Beroset pushing the pace down the homestretch and diving through the line to just barely break the 4:00 barrier by .06 seconds running 3:59.93. His final 400m was 57.95 with Rocco Culpepper's 57.53 to finish fourth only being faster amongst the field.
Beroset would just move past Burns for second with his second four flat Mile of the week running 4:00.92. Burns would just hold off Culpepper for third running 4:01.37 to 4:01.39.
Rowell's mark is the second fastest time ever by a Washington athlete, but the fastest by a Washington athlete outdoors on events held within the state. Owen Powell (Mercer Island) ran 3:58.12 at the Prefontaine Classic last spring for the Washington Boys Mile State Record.
Rowell will head to Gonzaga University in the fall to continue his cross country and track career, now as a sub 4 minute Miler.
