Move over Yared Nuguse, there is a new king of the Mile in Kentucky.
Going into the season, there was some hype building around challenging the Yared Nuguse 1-mile record that he set at the Kentucky Dream Mile on May 5, 2017. Nuguse ran 4:06.30 for the full mile which bested the 4:06.98 ran by Jacob Thomson in 2013.
Most people believed that Riku Sugie would be able to do it given his 4:07 indoor mile and his back to back dream mile titles. Others thought that maybe Paul Van Laningham could do it based on his 3A cross country title and impressive indoor campaign. However, it was the Virginia commit, Will Sheets, who took the challenge to heart. Sheets set the all-terrain Kentucky 5000m record in the indoor season where he ran a staggering 14:16. Sheets carried that momentum into the Kentucky Dream Mile where he ran a 4:07.23 to win the race.
After a disappointing State Championship (if you can call 1 State title in the 800 and 2 runner-ups in the 1600 and 3200 disappointing), where Sheets lost both the 1600m and 3200 to Riku Sugie, Sheets was determined to bounce back. He bounced back in a MASSIVE way at the HOKA Festival of Miles. Sheets placed 5th in the "Elite" section of the race running a staggering 4:03.35 Full 1 mile. This time broke Nuguse's state record by almost exactly 3 seconds.
According to Sheets's coach, Jeremy Mosher, Yared Nuguse and Coach Holman, Head Coach at DuPont Manual, reached out to congratulate Sheets on his performance.
Sheets will be taking his talents to the middle distance powerhouse, Virginia Cavaliers who will assuredly turn Sheets into a potential All-American.