Mar 18, 2012

MOMILESPLIT.COM HIGH SCHOOL ALL STAR RACE

Watch List #1

Every few weeks during the track season MoMileSplit.com and Big River Running Company will be bringing you an official Festival of Miles Watch List highlighting the top milers in the State and across the Midwest region. The MoMileSplit.com high school all star miles are open to any boy who breaks 4:20 in the 1600/mile and any girl who runs under 5:10. We will take the top 12 entries in each race. All entrants will be outfitted in specially designed Under Armour singlets and shorts and you will race right before the elite women’s 800 and the elite men’s mile.

Have you already run the standard? Click HERE to sign up for the meet.

See you on May 31st!!

Momilesplit.com High School All Star Mile Watch List #1
(The pre-season Missouri Favorites)

BOYS

Caleb Wilfong, SR, Rock Bridge – Wilfong enters 2012 as the top returning miler in the State of Missouri. His 4:12 at last year’s State Meet earned him a very close third place but also the respect of everyone who watched the race as Wilfong was the one who pushed the pace from the gun. The University of Iowa-bound senior boasts a 1:53 800 speed but also plenty of strength which he exhibited this past fall when he took home top honors at the Class 4 State Cross Country Meet.

Drew Cargill, SR, West Plains – Cargill is the number two returner in the State and has 4:14/9:14 credentials on his resume’. Cargill’s Zizzers have a long history of great performances on the track and we are sure he’d love to add his name to a long list of State Champions that include Jason Sandfort, Josh Harper, Sean Carlson and Chris Zinn among many others.

Amos Bartelsmeyer, JR, MICDS– There may not be a better pure miler on this list. As a sophomore Bartelsmeyer ran a 4:16 full mile at the Festival of Miles and that was after playing soccer in the fall each of his first two years. This time around he has a cross country season under his belt and that extra strength could make him a real threat to be the number one miler in the State in 2012.

Zach Herriott, SR, Rockhurst – The knock on Herriott is that he’s more of a 2-miler, a strength guy. Well, when you finish in the top 10 at the Nike Cross Nationals meet like Herriott did in the fall then we are betting you can run a pretty darn good mile as well. Watch for the Oklahoma-bound star to shatter his 4:19 personal best this spring.

Noah Kauppila, SO, Marquette – Kauppila has saved his best for last in each of his last two seasons. At the 2011 State Track Meet he laid down one of the fastest freshman 3200 times in the nation, posting a 9:25 and earning 7th place in a tough field. Then last fall he scored a huge breakthrough with a 14th place finish at the Foot Locker Midwest Meet, the top Missouri finisher in the race and the second sophomore. His smooth form and national-level talent make him a serious threat to be one of the best milers in the State come the end of May.

GIRLS

Samantha Nightingale, SR, Blue Springs South - Nightingale is just really darn good. Her 2011 cross country season put her up there with the likes of Emily Sisson, Meredith Snow and Megan Thompson in the all-time Missouri annals. She has already broken five minutes in the 1600 and we don’t think it will be long before she starts knocking on that 4:50 door. We would love to see her go after Colleen Quigley’s Festival of Miles meet record on May 31st.

Hannah Long, FR, Eureka - Long is a Festival of Miles veteran having won the Invitational Junior High Mile in 2009 and 2010 before placing second as an eighth-grader last year in the high school division. Her cross country season was outstanding for a freshman; finishing second at State and 11th at Foot Locker Midwest. More recently she was 13th at the USA Junior Cross Country Championships in February over 6k against the best 19-and-under runners in the country.

Hannah Richardson, SR, Kirkwood – Richardson is the speediest girl on this list in terms of 800 credentials. Her 2:14 makes her the top returner in Missouri in that event. Add the strength she seemed to gain this past fall when she finished sixth at the State XC meet and Richardson has to be considered a serious contender to pull of the very tough 1600/800 double at the State Meet.

Nicole Mello, JR, Columbia Hickman – Mello more than made up for an unfortunate fall at the 2011 State Cross Country Meet by qualifying for the Foot Locker National Championships three weeks later. A solid 20th place finish at Nationals further proved that Mello has the ability to put up some monster times this track season. Could you imagine Nightingale, Long, Richardson and Mello all battling it out under the lights at the Festival of Miles?

Saga Barzowski, JR, Arcadia Valley – The reigning Class 3 1600/800 champ and Class 2 Cross Country Champ has shown time and time again that she knows how to win big races. Devastating kicks gave her the two titles last spring and we expect more of the same in 2012. If she joins the Festival of Miles field it would be very interesting to see what she could do against the Class 4 girls.

Check back next time for Watch List #2 (The best milers in the Midwest!)