New Boys’ 2-Mile Record

A new record? Yeah, and it’s already 28 years old!

I found this in the wee hours of Christmas Day, after I got home from our local service. It’s the Pinkerton boys’ indoor 2-mile record, which I track but not with the same importance as the 3000m. In fact, the only reason I note the 2-mile on the record sheet at all is because Matt Downin ’95 ran a fast 9:26 at indoor nationals. I later found that they took splits at the race at 3000m, AND it was a fully automatic timing (FAT) split. Oooo. That split still stands as our 3000m school record at 8:47.32. Nico Sevilla ’16 darn near got it. When Jeff Reddy ’16 went nearly ballistic at the 2015 Dartmouth Relays 2-Mile in 9:28, I felt I had to recognize that. And then in 2016 Nico ran his 2 Mile in 9:25, and Pinkerton had a new 2-Mile record holder.

But then, today’s Christmas present. Turns out that Matt Downin had a race a week before that indoor nationals meet. At the Eastern States Meet in NYC’s Armory, Matt came around in 9:21.82, an absurd 5 seconds faster than I had seen before. The Derry News, which keeps its archives online (and thank them for that), carried the story.

Also found — in that same Eastern States Meet — a result from Downin’s training partner John Mortimer, he of Londonderry High School, University of Michigan, and now of Millenium Running. His first place 2-Mile time was 9:11.60, with a mile split of 4:29.7 and a 3000m split of 8:34.5. 8:34.5!