With 400 to go in the 5,000 it looked like the race was down to two: Valor Christian sophomore Ty Garrett, and Benzie Central (MI) sophomore Hunter Jones.
At stake wasn't just the adidas Indoor Nationals 5,000 title, but potentially a class record - Elijah Armstrong's sophomore class record of 14:53.27.
The boy's Championship 5,000 proved to be the highlight of the first night of the adidas Indoor Nationals, in Virginia Beach, VA.
And Garrett appeared to have timed this one to perfection. He sat back in the pack through the opening miles, cruising through the 1,600 around 4:33, and the 3,200 in 9:01 (A personal best for the distance), then he went to work.
The Valor Christian sophomore caught Jones with a quarter to go, and put the pedal to the floor. But this was a race that would go down to the wire - literally.
Garrett entered the final lap with the edge, and fought off a hard-charging Jones down the backstretch. But it was Jones who had one more gear in the final strides.
Jones took the national title - and a new sophomore class national record of 14:49.76, just ahead of Garrett's 14:50.57. The times were the top-two fastest All-Time in the sophomore class, and currently a US No. 1 and No. 2 across all classes for 2021.
To add to the incredible performance, note that Garrett's last lap was 30.20. (Hunter's was 29.07.)
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