Neuqua's Derrick sets new milestone

It was the greatest thing Mike Kennedy has ever seen.

The Neuqua Valley boys track coach watched awestruck like the rest of a crowd of up to 7,000 last Saturday night when the Wildcats' Chris Derrick ran 5,000 meters in under 14 minutes at the Arcadia Invitational in California.

As he smelled a sub-14 minute time the senior put fatigue behind him and circled the track faster and faster, until he finished in 13 minutes, 55.96 seconds.

It was the fastest time ever recorded in a high school-only meet, and the sixth fastest ever in the United States by a high school athlete.

"This is the greatest thing I've ever seen, definitely," Kennedy said.

The crowd initially was disenchanted by the prospect of a distance race.

"In fact," Kennedy said, "I heard somebody kind of hem and haw when they said, 'Here we go, for 12 and a half laps.' "

Derrick picked up on it.

"At first they were a little weary that they had to watch a 12½-lap race," he said. "But then they really got into it at the end. That was really special."

In perfect temperatures and no wind, Derrick came through his first mile in 4:33 and his second in 9:03.

He ran the last mile in 4:19 and his last 800 meters in 2:05. His last lap was completed in 61 seconds -- six seconds faster than his first. He ran the final 2 miles in 8:49.

"I didn't really know what to expect," said the Stanford-bound senior.

"This was my first time running the 5K on the track. I wasn't really expecting to break 14. I would have been pretty happy with a sub-14:10. I didn't really think I was running that kind of pace during the race, I thought I was headed for around 14:10-ish.

"Then with 800 to go I knew I needed like a 2:10. I was pretty tired, so I didn't really think I had that. But then I had a 65 (in the second-to-last lap), so I saw I was in it and I just wanted to make sure I didn't leave anything out there."

Teammates Aaron Beattie, who on Friday night ran the 3,200 in a career-best 9:24.55, and Jimmy Riddle and Danny Pawola, there for Saturday's 3,200 invitational race, were as impressed as anyone.

"The last 2 miles, you can't help but stand up and get excited -- kind of stand in disbelief, almost. The way he closed, I've never seen anything like that," said Riddle, who recorded a 9:11.19 at Arcadia while Pawola went 9:15.20, both personal bests.

Kennedy said: "When he came down that last stretch, people were just screaming: 'Go under, go under!' And he was way under."

Derrick was named athlete of the meet, but he was more interested, he said, in "how the time relates to history."

"I was looking at the list of the other guys who've broken 14 (minutes)," he said of a group that includes Steve Prefontaine and Craig Virgin.

"All but one made an Olympic or World Championship game. That encourages me a lot."