Carleo, Garmon Set for Boys’ Junior Invitational Mile
Top HS field also includes Ritz, Wetzel and Muniz at New Balance Indoor Grand Prix on Saturday, Feb. 7
BOSTON – Massachusetts standouts Nick Carleo and P.J. Garmon are among the U.S. prep stars set for the Boys’ Junior Invitational Mile at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix on Saturday, Feb. 7, organizers have announced.
Carleo (Newburyport, MA) returns to the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix as a two-time Massachusetts Division 2 Cross Country All-State Champion and the reigning state Mile champion both indoors and outdoors. He is ranked #5 in the U.S. for the indoor Mile this season (4:14.12). Garmon (Billerica, MA) is the Massachusetts Division 1 Cross Country All-State runner-up and the reigning outdoor state champion at 800 meters.
On the heels of Boston’s selection by the USOC to bid for the 2024 Olympics, the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix will kick off an indoor season in which the city will be the epicenter of track & field in the United States, with the Reggie Lewis Track and Athletic Center at Roxbury Community College also set to host the USATF Indoor Track & Field Championships, from Feb. 27-March 1. Tickets for both events—including money-saving packages for the two meets—are now on sale at www.nbindoorgrandprix.com or by calling 1-877-849-8722.
Also among the top U.S. prep Milers coming to Boston will also be:
• Sam Ritz (Germantown Academy, PA), currently ranked #1 in the country this indoor season at 800 meters and 1000 meters and #6 in the Mile
• Logan Wetzel (Saline, MI), runner-up to Grant Fisher in the 2014 Michigan Division 1 State Cross Country Championships and runner-up in the Emerging Elites Mile at the 2014 New Balance Indoor Nationals
• Benito Muniz (Carmel, NY), 7th in the Mile at the 2014 New Balance Outdoor Nationals (4:09.74); 18th at the 2014 Foot Locker Cross Country Championships
• Aidan Tooker (Saratoga Springs, NY), 2014 Section 2 New York State Cross country Champion; runner-up at 3200 meters at 2014 state indoor championships
• Jack Salisbury (La Salle Academy, Providence, RI), winner at the 2015 Dartmouth Relays who has the fastest 2015 time in the U.S at 1500 meters indoors (4:05.57), and last year competed here on his team’s winning Distance Medley Relay squad
• Thomas Ratcliffe (Concord-Carlisle, MA), who is undefeated so far this year at distances from 600 meters to 2 Miles
• Jaxson Hoey (Downington West, PA), who finished 13th in the Mile at the 2014 New Balance Indoor Nationals
Rounding out the field for the Boys’ Junior Invitational Mile will be the winner of Saturday’s East Coast Invitational in Providence. The field for the Girls’ Junior Invitational Mile will be announced soon.
Among the athletes who have competed in the Boys’ Junior Invitational Mile since the meet began 20 years ago are Mac Fleet, Kyle Merber, Luke Puskedra, Evan Jager, Chris Derrick and Matthew Centrowitz. Jager would go on to set a U.S. record in the 3000m steeplechase, while Derrick led the U.S. to a silver medal at the 2014 IAAF World Cross Country Championships and Centrowitz won a 1500 meter bronze medal at the 2011 IAAF World Championships.
The prep stars this year will join top American and international athletes, including Centrowitz; Olympic champions Meseret Defar and Jenn Suhr; two-time Olympic medalist Bernard Lagat; World Junior champion Mary Cain; and Jenny Simpson, the 2011 World Champion at 1500 meters, ranked #1 Miler in the world by Track & Field News magazine for 2014. The New Balance Indoor Grand Prix, which has played host to seven World Records and 11 U.S. Records, will be the second stop in the 2015 Indoor USATF Championship Series and will begin on Saturday, Feb. 7 at 4:30pm.
