The first day of the 2022 Eastern Relays did not disappoint.
We watched two U.S. No. 1 middle school one-mile races as well as one of the best freshman 3,200m performances of all-time. The races were deep and brought out the quality in the field as the cream rose to the top.
The KYtrackXC team was there for all of the action while capturing videos of every race as well as all of our results (shout out to DC Timing for their amazing results work). You can catch the second day of action LIVE on Milesplit!
Let's recap the top performances.
Middle School Girl's One Mile
The top marks started with Addison Moore of Woodford County Middle School throwing down a 5:01.12 in the mile, which vaulted her to US No. 1 for that event.
Addison had a breakout indoor season and has appeared as if she is not going to allow the transition to the outdoor facility to slow her down.
Her 5:01.12 bested the previous meet record by an amazing 13 seconds, which was last set by Alena Sapienza-Wright, who was a Kentucky powerhouse in her own right.
Middle School Boy's One Mile
As we spent time reflecting on the girls middle school mile, the boys took the track and did a little one-upping action.
The race featured the top four times in the nation for the middle school mile, led by Ryder Ortner of St. Bernard Academy in Tennessee. His 4:43.86 bested his previous US No. 1 mark of 4:48.
He was followed by Wyatt Boling (4:44), Ryan Graham (4:47) and Kaden Wancket (4:52) to all go into the top 4 nationally (FULL RANKINGS).
High School Boy's 3200m Run
The last event of the evening featured over 70 runners breaking the 10-minute mark in the boy's 3,200m run.
This field was led by freshman Keegan Smith of Knoxville Catholic High School and Lane Hoyes of Thomas Nelson after the first two laps of the race.
These two went head-to-head and propelled Smith to the fastest Non-FAT split 3,200m race of all-time. Hoyes ran the third-best 3,200m by a Kentucky high school athlete, only behind Jacob Thomson and Bobby Curtis.