Gatewood pulls double duty for big wins at Yale

By Mary Albl of DyeStat

NEW HAVEN, CONN. – Less than 24 hours after guiding his team to a victory and a U.S. No. 2 time of 10 minutes, 10.9 seconds in the distance medley relay, Mason Gatewood of St. Anthony's NY turned heads once again at Coxe Cage.

Gatewood clocked a nation-leading 1:54.36 to win the 800 meters Saturday at the Yale High School Track Classic. RESULTS

"To win it, obviously is the main goal coming into all of our races, so that was kind of the goal from the gun, not really looking at time," Gatewood explained. 

Gatewood, who qualified for Foot Locker Cross Country Nationals, was running in just his fourth meet of the indoor season. Earlier this month he qualified for the Millrose Games mile Feb. 3. He said one of the primary focuses this indoor season is the DMR. 

"It's definitely a great start to the season," Gatewood said. "We are getting into the swing of things. I'm really excited to see in the next month or so of training ... we have a long time before nationals, and I think we can improve a lot in that time."

In was a busy weekend for Padua DE's Lydia Olivere. The Villanova-bound senior anchored the DMR relay Friday to a US#1 time of 11:58.3. She then ran a personal-best 3,000 time of 9:49.58 to place runner-up Saturday to Katherine Lee of Shoreham-Wading River NY (9:48.36). She finished the day taking third in the 800, (2:16.95), an indoor personal-best time. 

"Going in, I just knew it was going to be a good race. I saw the field, so I was really excited," Olivere said of the 3K. "I thought it could be a good race for me to be in, hopefully get a PR, which I did, which I was really, really happy about, especially coming off last night. We had a really good DMR performance for our team." 

Lee, running in likely her only 3K of the season, produced a US#2 time.

"I just wanted to chill in the beginning and kick at the end," Lee said. 

In the boys 3,000 meters, Will Landowne of Staples CT saved his best for last. The senior never led in the race until the final 300 when he made his move to win in a nation-leading time of 8:33.81. 

"The plan for me was to stay with the top guys and see if I had a kick at the end," Landowne said. "I know I have really good speed right now, and I just closed the best I could."

The boys mile was won by Alex Korczynski of Windham CT as he led from start to finish. He ran 4:16.57.

"The goal was to qualify under the national standard and to try and get as far under that as possible," Korczynski. "I'm in a good spot. I have a lot of progress to make, and I'm feeling good so far, so I know I can go faster." 

In the girls mile, Portsmouth RI's Nikki Merrill and Elizabeth Sullivan went 1-2. Merrill took the win in 4:57.9, while Sullivan clocked 5:04.1. 

Samantha Friborg of Acton-Boxborough MA won the girls 800 in 2:10.26.

In the boys 400, Phillips Magre of Somerville MA won in 48.97.

In the field events, Alana Carroll of Averill Park NY cleared 13 feet to claim the pole vault title. Southington's Amanda Howe won the weight throw with 53-2 and won the shot put (40-3). Garrett Doyle of Lincoln High RI won the boys weight throw (68-5).