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Nike Festival of Miles
June 5th, 2014 at 7:00 pm CT
St. Louis University High School
Girls Mile
The girl’s mile is going to be great! Leading the way is Taylor Werner, fresh off of the best state meet performance EVER in Missouri. Not only did she run the fastest 3200m at the state meet, she also took the 1600m record. Her time of 4:44.26 put her sixth nationally and the best underclassman in the nation. This will be her third Festival of Miles race, as she raced as an 8th grader. She finished second in that race, and third last year with a PR of 4:49. The defending champ, Stephanie Jenks, is going to have to work to defend her title. However, she is having quite the season herself. Jenks has won a lot this year – at Drake Relays, at Kansas Relays, and at the State Meet. The Adidas Dream Mile Qualifer, set the Iowa State Record in the 3K at the State meet, as well as adding the 1500m title. She ran a PR of 4:28 for 1500m at the Drake Relays, seven seconds faster than a year ago. Jenks holds the Festival of Miles record for the mile, running 4:47 a year ago.
While those two girls have set themselves as the favorite, the field is loaded with talent. You have Jamie Kempfer, a sub 4:50 girl, one of the best performances in state meet history, finishing second behind Werner. The third place finisher in Class 3, Mia Jerman, also is in the field, having run under 5 minutes for the 1600m. You also have the second through eighth place finishers from Class 4. That’s right – seven of the top 8! Of those, two of them are coming off of sub five minute performanes – Ann Campbell (4:54) and Jill Whitman (4:55). Of those, the slowest seven, all of them have run at least 5:01. Also joining the field is another star from Iowa, Elyse Prescott. Prescott, from Urbandale, Iowa, was seventh at a loaded Drake Relays race in a quick 4:38 for 1500m.
Two more out of state athletes round out the field – Callie Logue (KS) and Jeralyn Poe (NE). Logue was third at the state meet, and dipped under the 5:00 barrier at the Shawnee Mission North Relays. Poe, the fastest girl for the 1600m in Nebraska, ran just sixth one hundredths of a second over the 5:00 mark.
There is no doubt – this is the best field ever assembled for this event.