Eccleston achieves meet record and world-leading effort in return of women’s mile at event for first time since 2010, with Meyer leading six athletes under sub-4 barrier in men’s race to elevate to No. 4 global competitor this year; Ally and Trober secure high school mile wins, with Clark and Talley taking 800s

By Erik Boal, DyeStat Editor/Photos by David Wells

Brett Meyer had experienced the thrill of winning an NCAA Division 2 Championship during his career at Fort Hays State, capturing the 1,500-meter title in 2019.

Meyer, now a graduate assistant for the Tigers, enjoyed his most impressive post-collegiate performance Thursday at the 13th HOKA Festival of Miles at St. Louis University High in Missouri.

Meyer surged from sixth place with 200 meters to go in the St. Louis Track Club Men’s Mile and moved wide on the home stretch to take the lead for good with less than 75 meters remaining on his way to achieving a lifetime-best 3 minutes, 56.71 seconds, the No. 4 global outdoor performance this year.

Amanda Eccleston, a Brooks athlete and three-time Division 2 national champion at Hillsdale College, achieved a meet-record 4:30.06 in the Drury Women’s Mile, and PUMA professional competitor Taylor Werner, a former Missouri prep star at Ste. Genevieve and six-time All-American at Arkansas, clocked a personal-best 4:32.93 for the top two times in the world during the outdoor season.

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Meyer had finished third in the men’s pro mile at the 2019 event in 4:00.09 and sixth in 2018 with a 3:59.77 performance, but Thursday he covered the final lap in 56.51 seconds to lead six athletes under the 4-minute barrier.

Illinois standout Jon Davis, who led entering the final lap at 2:59.40, secured second in 3:57.39, with Kansas graduate Bryce Richards taking third in 3:57.61, just ahead of three-time New Zealand Olympian Nick Willis, representing Tracksmith, who clocked 3:57.62.

Former Providence athlete Julian Oakley, also competing for New Zealand, ran 3:58.02 and Australian talent Jack Anstey of Illinois State was the sixth athlete to produce a sub-4 performance at 3:58.17.

It marked the most sub-4 efforts at the event since there were seven in 2018, increasing the total to 41 in meet history.

The women’s mile returned for the first time at the meet since 2010, and Eccleston – who boasts a personal-best 4:25.64 from 2016 – was too strong over the final 200 meters, pulling away from Werner, who returned to compete at Festival of Miles for the first time in six years, and HOKA ONE ONE Northern Arizona Elite athlete Lauren Paquette (4:35.21).

It was a meaningful turnaround for Eccleston, who placed eighth in the 800 during her last appearance in St. Louis in 2018.

Miles Ally of Martin Luther King High in Tennessee, a North Carolina State signee, produced the No. 5 prep performance in meet history in the Big River Running High School Boys Mile Championship, surging with just over 400 meters remaining and never relinquishing control to prevail in 4:06.42.

Ally, who closed in 57.44, elevated to the No. 4 prep competitor in the country this season. He led six athletes under 4:10, the most in any high school race this year.

Drew Rogers of Herscher High in Illinois was second in 4:08.02, Damian Hackett of St. Albans School for Boys in Washington D.C. took third in 4:08.11, Nathan Mueller of Adel-Desoto-Minburn in Iowa finished fourth in 4:08.53, Emmanuel Sgouros of St. John’s in Houston was fifth in 4:09.27 and Riley Vandaveer of Olathe South in Kansas clocked 4:09.35 to place sixth.

The Big River Running High School Girls Mile Championship provided the most thrilling stretch run of the evening, with Mya Trober of Blue Springs South High in Missouri edging fellow junior Lauren Pansegrau of Middleton High in Wisconsin by a 4:54.16 to 4:54.17 margin.

Trober, a first-year track athlete, enjoyed a four-second drop from May 1 at the Trials of Miles Kansas City Qualifier. Pansegrau improved from her 4:55.93 effort May 22 in the 1,600 at Hale Distance Night.

Riley Beach of Blue Valley Northwest High in Kansas took third in 4:56.69, with eighth-grader Abby Faith Cheeseman of The Webb School in Bell Buckle, Tenn., finishing fourth in 4:59.03, both personal-best performances.

A pair of Missouri juniors triumphed in the high school 800 races, with Makayla Clark of Lees Summit West achieving a top 15 national prep ranking this season by clocking 2:08.18.

Tanner Talley of New Covenant Academy, who had only run under the 2-minute mark twice this year, improved by nearly four seconds to emerge victorious in 1:52.80.