TASTY RACE Meet Record-Shattering Boys 1600m At Granada

TASTY RACE OF THE WEEK

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LIVERMORE -- Turns out, the boys 1600-meter meet record at the Granada Distance & Sprint Festival didn't stand much of a chance against Saturday's field. 

Despite morning rain showers and a wet track, this previous meet standard fell not once, not twice, but three times as the top three boys in this highly contested race all lowered the record. 

Running on his home track, Granada (NC) junior Dheeraj Gurusamy ran patiently until the time was right and off he sprinted to victory in a 58.99 final lap split, leaving in his wake the previous leaders in College Park (NC) junior Alex Lamoureux and Granada sophomore Eshaan Singh.

It was a significant PR drop for the two runners from the perennially strong Granada distance program. 

Oh, by the way, that previous record was 4:19.32 set last May by stellar De La Salle (NC) distance runner, Patrick Curulla, now at UCLA. 

In the race, Lamoureux takes the lead early. St. Mary's (SJ) senior takes his shot about 750m in. Lamoureux regains the lead shortly thereafter, holding off threats from Dougherty Valley (NC) junior Andrew Richards and Singh.

With about 200m left, Singh makes a charge. Gurusamy, who had been holding onto the lead pack in fifth for the first half of the race and continued to hold on as others fell off, made a strong move at the top of the curve, pulled even with Lamoureux with about 100m left as Singh falls off, and comes home to the excellent call of stadium PA Todd Reddick. 

Enjoy!

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Photos by Jennifer Koziel. Interview by Jeffrey Parenti.