Owens Gets His Due

Last week when the USA Today All-USA track and field selections were announced, it seemed like there was one glaring omission. Where in the world was Eddie Owens of Brooklyn's Packer Collegiate?

But now DyeStat ESPN HS has named its 2010-11 Most Outstanding Performers and Doug Binder's profile on Owens provides some insight to his 'outside-looking-in' status with the nation's newspaper. While dominant, he didn't really fit a traditional list of high school events.

Wrote Binder:

Loquacious Packer Collegiate senior Eddie Owens gravitated to events on the periphery of high school distance running and excelled at them — road running and steeplechase. Owens was the best in the country in two very different disciplines.

On March 20, on the streets of Manhattan, Owens ran the New York City Half-Marathon in 1 hour, 7 minutes and 34 seconds — placing 37th overall. (He was the only teen in the top 100). Because the course was point-to-point, he was not eligible for a record there. But the performance stacks up as one of the best at the 13.1-mile distance in prep history.

One of 12 Armory region performers honored by DyeStat, Owens wasn't the only athlete on the ESPN list who didn't appear on the All-USA team. Weight and hammer thrower Rudy Winkler of Averill Park, who won at both the New Balance Indoor and Outdoor Nationals and represented the United States at the IAAF World Youth Championships in France, joined him in that distinction.

Speaking of France, Steve Underwood at DyeStat is really looking forward to Ajee Wilson's senior season at Neptune High after she won the 800 meters at the World Youths this summer. Underwood puts her in the company of Kim Gallagher:

Whether or not we'll look back at 2012 as the year Ajee' Wilson became the greatest prep 800 runner of all-time remains to be seen. There's reasons Kim Gallagher's 2:00.07 USR has lasted almost 30 years: It's one of the toughest on the books and there's not a lot of 800 specialization.

The DyeStat Dominating Dozen from The Armory region:

• Mary Cain (Bronxville: Bronxville, N.Y.)
• Edward Cheserek (St. Benedict's Prep: Newark, N.J.)
• Aisling Cuffe (Cornwall Central: New Windsor, N.Y.)
• Najee Glass (St. Peter's Prep: Jersey City, N.J.)
• Myasia Jacobs (Paramus Catholic: Paramus, N.J.)
• Leah Nugent (Abington: Abington, Pa.)
• Eddie Owens (Packer Collegiate: Brooklyn, N.Y.)
• Joe Rosa (West Windsor-Plainsboro North: Plainsboro, N.J.)
• Nick Vena (Morristown: Morristown, N.J.)
• Zavon Watkins (Liverpool: Liverpool, N.Y.)
• Ajee Wilson (Neptune: Neptune, N.J.).
• Rudy Winkler (Averill Park: Averill Park, N.Y.)