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After 39 years, Garry Bjorklund is no longer Minnesota's fastest-ever schoolboy miler.Burnville's Rob Finnerty (pictured), running in the Midwest Distance Gala last night in Lisle, Illinois, broke Bjorklund's Minnesota all-time best mark in the event with a 4:01.09 victory.
Bjorklund's record was 4:05.1 set at the State Meet in 1969.
You can watch video of Finnerty's run HERE.
Full results, including those of other Minnesotans competing in the meet, are HERE.
Earlier in the season, Finnerty had clocked 4:06.49 for 1600m to become the second-fastest miler/1600m runner in state high school history.
According to Dyestat's coverage of the event, Rosemount's Jordan Carlson -- who would finish second to Finnerty yet again, in 4:07.18 -- led the field through 400m in 59.6. Carlson, with Finnerty right behind him hit 800m in 2:01.3 and 1200m in "3:01-high" before Finnerty stormed home to his record.
Finnerty's mile time equates to a 3:59.70 1600m. It is the fastest mile run by an American high school athlete in 2008, according to Dyestat.
The time also ranks as the 7th-fastest high school mile/1600m in American high school history.
Finnerty is expected to race in the 2 Mile at next weekend's Nike Outdoor National meet in Greensboro, North Carolina.
Photo by Brandon Gittelman, courtesy of DyestatIL.com.
3 comments:
Here's an article I put together this morning on the meet. It was a great evening of racing, capped by Finnerty's U.S. #7 all-time performance. Congrats to all the Minnesota guys and I hope we can get even more to attend the Gala next year. Just FYI as well, another Finnerty article will be posted on MileSplit later Monday afternoon.
http://il.milesplit.us/articles/18684
- Scott Bush
Midwest Distance Gala Co-Meet Director
Finnerty's accomplishment is very good but should not be allowed for the following reasons: state records should be set "in state" and not a staged event outside the state. Bjorklund's record was set at the state meet and without the use of a "rabbit" runner. Bjorklund's last lap at the state meet was 55 seconds without the use of a rabbit - how fast could he have run with a rabbit? Many states require that any type of state records must be set "in state" before its allowed. I could not agree more - Minnesota needs to catch up with those requirements. I am not taking anything away from Finnerty - he is a very good record. It was just accomplished in a watered down manner.
MSHL has retracted the Finnerty claim. Bjorklund's record will likely stand in perpetuity--now using a "metric mile" distance, probably will remain. Also, "proportional projections of other distances" is another invalid method. Garry's record stands, period!
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