Millrose Week Is Here

Better act now.

The 2012 Millrose Games is expected to be a sell out. It will be the biggest crowd for an event at The Armory (and in Washington Heights) in modern times. Note that the New York Yankees once called Washington Heights home and press reports from the early 20th century referred to crowds numbering 7,000.

Worldwide.

Through The Armory's collaboration with YouTube Sports, the 2012 Millrose Games will be streamed live worldwide on the internet. The broadcast will be available in HD at youtube.com/armorytrack beginning at 4 pm with the premier showcase beginning at 6:45 pm and lasting through the famed Wanamaker Mile at around 10 pm. Dwight Stones and Tim Hutchings will be on the call from The Armory.

Coming home again.

This will be a homecoming of sorts for a number of the world-class athletes who will be searching for Olympic gold in London in the summer. The Armory has become an important venue for hundreds of thousands of athletes, including many who would later find global stardom. Jesse Williams, Natasha Hastings and Sanya Richards-Ross, for example, competed here as high schoolers while others like Morgan Uceny and Matthew Centrowitz took to The Armory track as collegians. Some of the other 'Faces of Millrose' who will be in The Armory for Millrose will be Eamonn Coghlan, Byron Dyce, John Thomas, Tom Courtney and Howard Schmertz.

Look into the future.

There's really no other way to put it, almost the entire cast of the future of U.S. women's middle distance running will be on display at the Millrose Games. That includes Jenny Simpson, Shannon Rowbury, Morgan Uceny, Maggie Vessey, Phoebe Wright, Latavia Thomas and high school phenom Ajee Wilson.

Got a minute?

Olympic gold medalist LaShawn Merritt will be in pursuit of the first sub-minute 500m dash as Ken Lowery's world record of 1:00.17 has lasted since 1987. If Merritt can do it, he will pick up a $25,000 bonus. His chief contender will be Jeshua Anderson, formerly of Washington State University.

Record watch.

In the 5,000-meter run, there will be a Kenyan-born pursuit of three U.S. national records. Legendary Bernard Lagat, who now runs for the U.S., will be the top challenger for Galen Rupp's American record (13:11.44) while Arizona's Lawi Lalang and Iona's Leonard Korir will lead another chase for Rupp's college record. If that's not enough, Edward Cheserek — a junior at St. Benedict's Prep in Newark, N.J. — will look to become the first U.S. high schooler to run sub-14.

The ups and the downs.

Jenn Suhr — who failed to clear a height last week in New York — erased that memory at the New Balance Grand Prix in Boston on Saturday, becoming the first American woman to clear 16 feet in the pole vault. She enters the Millrose Games as the No. 2 all-time performer in the world!

A golden race.

Three of the women slated to run in the 400-meter dash have won Gold at the Olympic Games. American record holder Sanya Richards-Ross, hometown hero Natasha Hastings and Mary Wineberg competed on the victorious U.S. 4x400m relay in Beijing. Hastings, Brooklyn-born and Long Island-raised, told Chris LaMonica of the Fast Life Show that The Armory has special meaning to her. "I've run there before the track was even banked," she said. She also predicts "a fast race" in the women's 400m dash.

Local showcase.

The high school girls' mile field is absolutely loaded. Five of the entrants run sub-4:50 in the early-season qualifying races and the likes of Bronxville's Mary Cain, North Shore's Samantha Nadel and Brianna Nerud, Friends Academy's Kelsey Margey and Sachem East's Rachel Paul will make this Millrose Mile, sponsored by New Balance, the fastest ever. Just in case, the national high school indoor record has been around for 39 years when Californian Debbie Heald ran 4:38.5.

Ivy time.

Six Ivy Leaguers, two current and four former, will be competing in elite events at Millrose. The current athletes — Penn's Maalik Reynolds and Columbia's Kyle Merber — will be showcased against some of the world's top athletes. Reynolds will take on Jesse Williams in the high jump while Merber battles Matthew Centrowitz in the Wanamaker Mile, an event that will also feature former Lion Liam Boylan-Pett. Cornell grad Morgan Uceny will face Maggie Vessey and Phoebe Wright in the 800; Columbia grad Erison Hurtault will try to keep with LaShawn Merritt in the 500; and Dartmouth's Ben True will run with Bernard Lagat and Lawi Lalang in the 5k.

City milers.

New York City's PSAL has entrants in both the boys' and girls' Millrose Miles. Cardozo High star Alexis Panisse has announced that she will be a Tennessee Volunteer next year while Stuyvesant High's Konrad Surkont has whittled his college choices to Harvard, Princeton and Yale.

Another shot.

One of the United States' most clutch performers — sprinter Lauryn Williams — is back on track. The 2004 Olympic silver medalist and 2005 World Championships gold medalist in the 100-meter dash, Williams reports that Bikram Yoga has put her back on the track for London 2012. "Ninety minutes in a room that averages about 105 degrees trying to get my body in positions that just aren’t natural for a sprinter," she wrote. "It has definitely helped my flexibility and transferred over to the track by allowing me more range of motion."

Irish eyes.

It's hard to think about the Millrose Games with thinking of famed Irish milers like Eamonn Coghlan, Marcus O'Sullivan and Ray Flynn. Well, they are all back… and then some. Flynn is the meet director for Millrose. O'Sullivan is bringing his Villanova Wildcats to run in the DMR. And Coghlan has his own Irish DMR coming from Dublin City University. Running anchor for that team? An offspring named John Coghlan.

A new celebration.

The nation's Historically Black Colleges & Universities will be competing in an HBCU 4x400m relay for the first time at the Millrose Games. The race — which will feature Cheyney University, Coppin State University, Delaware State University, Hampton University, University of Maryland-Eastern Shore and Morgan State University — will be the first event following the opening ceremonies with a scheduled start time of 7:15 pm.

Hubby's pretty good, too.

The husband of 400m star Sanya Richards-Ross, New York Giants' star cornerback Aaron Ross, is now a Super Bowl champion after his team defeated the New England Patriots, 21-17, on Sunday. Ross had three tackles, including one for a loss, in the big victory. Sanya and Aaron met as student-athletes at the University of Texas.

Compelling youth.

Three of the nation's most intriguing high school track stars will be taking on the world's top competition at the Millrose Games. Kenyan Edward Cheserek, who attends St. Benedict's Prep in Newark, N.J., has flirted with a sub-four mile and and national records. He will face his hero Bernard Lagat in the 5,000m run. IAAF World Youth 800m champion Ajee Wilson, a student at Neptune (N.J.) High, will run with Morgan Uceny and Maggie Vessey in the 800m run. Strymar Livingston of Columbus High in the City, who has broken two national records in the last two weeks, will face Olympic gold medalist LaShawn Merritt in the 500m dash.

A whole new world.

U.S. Olympian and four-time World Championships pole vaulter Jillian Schwartz is looking to compete in the 2012 London Games, but this time for Israel. She competed for the United States at the 2009 Worlds, but switched nationality and gained Israeli citizenship prior to the 2010 season. She has already established national records both indoor and outdoor for Israel.

Global thinking.

The 2012 Millrose Games will combine the best of local, national and global competition at The Armory on Feb. 11. The elite races at the Millrose Games will feature 25 Olympians as well as 11 more who earned medals at the 2011 World Championships in Daegu, South Korea. The athletes in the elite races represent 22 countries outside the United States.

International Elites at Millrose

Past Olympians at Millrose