Rockbridge County High School runner Leif Guse competed in the freshman boys’ mile at the Adidas Track Nationals, placing 17th of 37 runners on Saturday in Greensboro, N.C.
Running for the East Coast Elite club track team, Guse finished in 4:45.78, an impressive time on a hot evening, when there weren’t many personal records. Fairfax Home School’s Cole Henson won the race in 4:24.47.
At the Adidas Indoor Track Nationals held March 21-23 in Virginia Beach held March 21-23 in Virginia Beach, Guse placed 15th in the freshman boys’ mile in 4:43.26.
Praising Guse, who ran cross country for RC last fall before joining the club track team, East Coast Elite coach and co-founder Drew Ludtke said, “We are excited that Leif had a chance to race at nationals and that he has dropped almost 20 seconds in his mile time this year.”
Ludtke said the team has made a lot of progress and enjoyed success this year, and he looks forward to “another great summer to train and develop more in the coming year.”
Parry McCluer High School junior Griffin Harlow had qualified for the national outdoor meet in the shot put, but he wasn’t able to register because the meet had met its capacity. PM throwing coach Danny Cole said Harlow, who placed third at the Class 1 state meet on June 6 with a throw of 45 feet, 1.5 inches, is planning to compete in the Commonwealth Games, which will be held July 18-20 at Liberty University.
“Right now, we’re focusing on getting him healed up from several nagging injuries all year,” said Cole.
