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I thought it would help get me in the right frame of mind to write about Elliott Heath’s final high school track meet.
The Winona High School senior is set for one last state track meet and it should be … it will be exciting.
Heath set the bar high at the Section 1AA meet last week, running the sixth-fastest 3,200-meter time in the United States at 8 minutes, 57.65 seconds and he wasn’t even really challenged.
Heath gets set to run early today at Hamline University in St. Paul, and this time he’s surely going to be challenged.
“I hope people who watch or are into distance running appreciate what’s about to happen,” former WSHS coach Jim Flim said. “We haven’t had this kind of talent in a long time, if ever.
“There are about five or six kids in the 3,200 who could go 9:09, 9:10 or lower.”
Heath was the state champion in the 3,200 last season — winning in another athletes’ shoes, if you remember, because his were ruled illegal minutes before the race.
Heath also won state in cross country that year and placed third this year.
“The buzz (last) Saturday (at the Section 1A meet in Northfield, Minn.) with a lot of coaches was the time Elliott ran the 3,200 on Thursday,” WSHS boys coach Tim Gleason said. “I expect a buzz about the complex at Hamline about the 2-mile and mile we’re all going to witness.
“All those guys deserve to be recognized at how unique and talented the field is.”
Heath holds the state’s best time in both events. Burnsville’s Rob Finnerty has the second-best times.
In the 1,600 Heath is at 4:10.29, while Finnerty has a 4:10.45. In the 3,200, Finnerty holds a 9:05.74 to Heath’s sub-9 minutes.
“I was shooting for a time in that range,” Heath said. “It’s going to give me some confidence knowing I can go that fast.
“It’s hard to say what the times will be next week, but I think there are multiple guys that are capable. State isn’t about times, but when you run that time, you want to go faster.
“That’s the mentality you have to have — go faster,” Heath said with a laugh at the obviousness of the statement. “You always want to go faster.”
At the same time Heath is running at state, his brother, Garrett, will be running across the country at a national meet in Sacramento, Calif., competing in the 1,500 for Stanford.
While Elliott hold the sixth-fastest time in the U.S. in the 2-mile, Garrett has his own great achievement.
The former WSHS state champion in all kinds of races that are long was the 285th American to run a sub-four-minute mile. He did it last winter in an indoor meet, finishing in 3:59.6.
Since, one other American has achieved the feat, so there now are 286 Americans below four minutes in the mile since it was recorded beginning in 1954.
As for my “warmup” run before writing this, it was not sub-9:00 or sub-4:00. But I could go for a sub about now.
