Matthew Centrowitz won the NYRR Wanamaker Mile for the second consecutive year at the NYRR Millrose Game again holding off New Zealand’s Nick Willis at the New Balance Track & Field Center at the Armory on Saturday night.
Both the Oregonian Centrowitz and Willis broke from the pack with two laps remaining. Centrowitz finished with a 3:50.63 mark, both a new NYRR Millrose Games and Armory record. Willis couldn’t wrestle the lead from Centrowitz down the stretch, finishing runner-up (3:51.06) for the second consecutive year.
Moments afterward Centrowitz and Willis were arm and arm, delighting a sellout crowd of 5,000 fans.
Centrowitz says it never gets old winning the NYRR Wanamaker Mile, his third triumph in the last five years.
“It never does,’’ Centrowitz said afterward. “I lost my second Millrose here and I remember that loss to this day – it stung. I can’t say I’ll ever get tired of winning here.”
Defending Women’s NYRR Wanamaker Mile champion Shannon Rowbury also successfully defended her title, turning in a 4:24.39 time, ahead of Kerri Gallagher (4:26.18). She nearly missed breaking her Armory record of 4:24.32 last year.
Crowd favorite and four-time Olympic gold medalist Allyson Felix didn’t disappoint her fans as she won the 60 Meters with a 7.15 winning mark. It was her first time competing in the NYRR Millrose Games at The Armory.
Andre De Grasse, a 2015 NCAA champion at the University of Southern California, made his professional debut a night to remember. He won a closely contested 60 Meter Dash with a 6.61 time, turning back Su Bingtian (6.62). Buffalo Bills wide receiver Marquise Goodwin, self-proclaimed “fastest player in the National Football League,” finished sixth with a 6.68 time.
In another meet highlight, it took exactly two weeks for high school phenom Drew Hunter to erase his national boys high school record. Hunter of Purcellville, Va., reset his previous mark of 3.58.25 with a 3:57.81 in the Armory Invitational Men’s Mile.
Staff Sgt. Robert Brown of the U.S Army won the first-ever NYRR Millrose Games Invictus Dash for wounded active duty and veteran service members. Brown won the six-person field with a 7.81 time in the 60 Meters dash.
For more results on the NYRR Millrose Games please go to either www.NYRRMillroseGames.org or ArmoryTrack.com.
