Philadelphia, PA – High school students across the country are taking advantage of the warm weather spending time by the pool, taking vacations with family and friends, or generally just relaxing. Greeneville High freshman, Trey Bailey, however, gathered with other high school track athletes at Franklin Field in Philadelphia for an unforgettable experience looking for a chance to win a national championship in the New Balance Outdoor Nationals.
Competition kicked off Thursday with 65 freshmen looking to place their name atop the leaderboard after completing the mile run. Indiana native, Calvin Seitz, crossed the finish line in 4 minutes 20.85 seconds to pace the field. His time broke the meet record by 2 seconds. The next two finishers Tyler Tomlinson (Pennsylvania) and Will Pongonis (Wisconsin) came in at 4:22.45 and 4:23.26 respectively. Bailey came across in 16th place, finishing in 4 minutes 27.94 seconds, which was a personal record.
Friday morning saw 77 freshmen set out to conquer the two-mile distance and get to stand atop the medal stand. Just like Day 1, Seitz would be the class of the field finishing first with a time of 9 minutes 10.58 seconds, setting a meet record by over 15 seconds. Kamari Ronfeldt (Michigan) and Pongonis also came across with times that would have bested the old record, 9:11.34 and 9:13.91. Bailey finished the meet in 26th place with a time of 9 minutes 52.07 seconds to close out his first year of high school competition.
