Two of the top distance guys in the country: Grayslake Central High School's (IL) Jack Aho and Finn Gessner from Madison La Follette (WI) battled Saturday night in the 1600m at the Distance Night in Palatine. The duo battled all the way to the line with Aho coming away with the victory by just a hair.
Aho dropped a 4:12.05 while Gessner ran a close 4:12.14 for 2nd. Lake Zurich's Brian Griffith was 3rd, running right behind Gessner at 4:12.93. Jacob Gebhardt and Kyle Griffith were 4th and 5th, running 4:14.51 and 4:14.51 respectively.
The race was not decided until the last 10 meters. In fact, at 300m to go and even 200m to go, it looked like Gessner was going to take the win. In the last stretch, Aho turned on the jets to pass Gessner and earned the win. His 4:12.05 is just off his PR of 4:07.39, which he set last year at the Nike Festival of Miles, and is right around what he ran last year at this same race.
All of the top 5 guys from the race rank in the top 24 times in the country in the 1600m. Aho and Gessner rank 10th and 11th.
Event 10 Boys 1600 Meter Run Elite
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Meet Record: M 4:08.64 4/23/2016 Sean Torpy, Sandburg
Name Year School Finals H#
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Finals
1 Aho, Jack Grayslake (Central) 4:12.05 2
2 Gessner, Finn La Follette, WI 4:12.14 2
3 Griffith, Brian Lake Zurich 4:12.93 2
4 Gebhardt, Jacob Sterling 4:14.51 2
5 Griffith, Kyle Lake Zurich 4:14.51 2
6 Ronzone, Michael Marmion Academy 4:17.63 2
7 Peterson, Danny Palatine (Fremd) 4:17.86 2
8 Pommier, Gabe Mahomet-Seymour 4:18.10 1
9 Zangri, Dylan Oswego (East) 4:18.15 2
10 Jordan, Reese Maine South 4:18.32 2Related Links: