New York City has 5th Avenue. Los Angeles has Rodeo Drive. Peachtree is the most famous street in Atlanta. Boston’s Commonwealth Avenue is famed for being part of the Boston Marathon and, of course, Washington’s Pennsylvania Avenue is known around the world for the guy who lives there.
But here, in Austin, we have Congress Avenue. It’s the most well-known stretch of road in Texas and runners of various sizes and shapes came to town from all over the state on Saturday to put the pedal to the floor for bragging rights in the Congress Avenue Mile, sponsored by Mercedes, Puma and RunTex.
Road racers, cross-country runners, kids and their parents and even some elite milers tested themselves on the lightening fast, north to south Congress Mile track.
The course starts practically on the Capitol steps and plunges south to the Ann Richards Congress Avenue Bridge. But just because it’s a mostly downhill course doesn’t mean it’s a snap. It’s fast, but hardly an easy course.
“The trick is controlling your speed in the first quarter,” said Scott Hippensteel, the coach of Lockhart HS. “You have to go out under control almost all the way through the 800-meter mark before cutting it loose. If you go out even a little too fast, you're going to find yourself in trouble.”
Nobody controlled their respective races—the elite boys and girls high school mile—better than C.J. Brown of Southlake Carroll and Kristie Krueger of Argyle HS in Dallas.
The top milers came from around the state, fresh off the State Meet and in peak condition. Still at the top of her game, Krueger, a 17-year-old junior, running her first Congress Avenue Mile. At States, she won the 1600 (4:57) and 3200 meters (10:41) which set state marks in each event.
On Saturday, she was clearly the favorite and didn’t disappoint. She blew through the half-mile mark in 2:20 and was able to hold on all the way to win in 4:46.08 overy Allison Pye in 4:47.38 and Erica Parker in third in 4:48.
“That’s a big-time PR for me,” said the excited Krueger. “I didn’t think I could run that fast, but I was just able to keep going. When I saw my split at halfway, I thought I had gone out way too fast. By the time I hit the flat part on the bridge, my legs felt like they were going to collapse.
“I’ve never done anything like this before,” she added, “so this was fun for me. The mile is just the right distance for me and to win a race like this in a 10-second PR is something I’ll always remember.”
Congress Avenue will certainly rank high in C.J. Brown’s memory banks too. The sophomore didn’t quite have the credentials Krueger had coming in—he was second in the State mile and sixth in the deuce—and admittedly had no idea how to run the downhill road course.
“I didn’t have any plan coming in,” said Brown who won in 4:07.63—a six-second PR. “I didn’t know what to expect so I just followed some of the guys who had run here before. Maybe next year I'll know what to do.”
It looked like Brown was doing just fine. He went through the first 400 in 58 seconds, but Brian Downey of The Woodlands was in the lead. Brown was just a few strides back and then with 400 meters to go, he floored it and caught Alex Neff on the bridge with 50 meters left to earn a very narrow win. Neff was second in 4:07.68 with Colby Lowe close behind in 4:08.54.
“I know this doesn’t count as a PR,” said Brown, “but it feels like one.”
There was even a sub-four minute sighting on Saturday morning. Joe Thorne, a UT miler who just finished his final season of eligibility for Jason Vigilante, busted up the elite division with a 3:59.16 to edge out Adam Davis of Houston by half a second. Cesar Figueroa of Baytown was third in 4:07.
In the women's open, Jill O'Neal of Georgetown (4:58) beat comebacking Carmen Troncoso (5:08) who was pleased her first fast effort in several months. Troncoso, 48, was also the first women's masters. Dee Giles was third in 5:18.
Among the age-groupers, Susan Walters of Wallis won the 40-44 in 5:40 and Rochelle WEbb earned the 50-54 title with a 6:44.
The men's masters were led by 45-year-old Richard Mendez who ran a sparkling 4:35.26. Scott Birk earned another 40-44 victory with a 4:44.01, followed by Jesse Devyln in 4:51.1 (one of three Devlyns who earned miler's medals) and Larry Bright was third in 4:55.46. Bright also placed second in the accompanying 5-K earlier in the morning.
Brian Smyth won the 50-54 in 5:02.71 with Jesus Montaya of Round Rock coming in second in 5:08.01. Tony Zapata was third in 5:25.
Wish paced the old guys (55-59) in 5:37 with Joe Bernald second in 5:55 and Sergio Madrigan third in 6:03. Jackson Battle won the...battle of really, really old guys (60-64) in 5:49 over Dick Wilkowski in 5:53.
