Trotter surpasses herself in Millrose Games mile

CHRIS KELLY Long Branch’s Mike Bland cruises to the 55-meter dash title at the Feb. 4 Shore Conference Championships at Red Bank Regional High School with a time of 6.63.

Katy runs 4:53.17

in finishing third;

Amanda Trotter eighth

By tim morris

CHRIS KELLY Shore Regional’s Jessie Leonard competes in the 400-meter dash at the Feb. 4 Shore Conference Championships at Red Bank Regional High School.

Staff Writer

When is a loss a win? When you’ve run faster than anyone else ever has in state history at the Millrose Games.

Red Bank Regional’s Katy Trotter couldn’t help considering herself a winner Friday night when she finished third in the girls’ high school mile at the famed Millrose Games in Madison Square Garden, New York City. Trotter ran a personal best 4:53.17 in chasing winner Nicole Blood of Saratoga Springs, N.Y. (4:52.00) and Ari Lambie of Bromfield School, Harvard, Mass., (4:53.14) all the way to the finish line.

"I never thought I could get that time," said Trotter. "To run that fast here, I feel like a winner. I couldn’t ask for anything more.

"It’s fun to see all the hard work paying off," she added. "I came here to race and give it all I’ve got."

Which she did.

Trotter, second at the national cross country championships in San Diego, Calif., back in December, had joined the ranks of the elite 1,600-meter runners in the country along with her twin sister, Amanda, after they both ran sizzling times at the Armory in New York City. Katy won the Hispanic Games mile in 4:55.42 with Amanda right on her shoulder, 4:55.54. At the time, those were the two fastest marks in the country and earned them qualifying marks for the Millrose Games.

At Madison Square Garden, the twins faced Blood, who had topped their mile times with her 4:54.78 last month.

From the start, the race was on target for a fast time. Blood took the field through a first quarter in 70.4, a sub-5:00 mile pace.

Midway through the 11-lap race, Blood broke it open by passing the half-mile in 2:25.3. Katy Trotter went with Blood and Lambie, leaving the others (among them her shoeless sister Amanda) to race for fourth.

Lambie took the lead back during the next quarter-mile.

Trotter made a bid for the lead herself with three laps to go, but Blood had similar plans and went by her on the inside.

Blood kicked it into high gear with two laps to go, passing Lambie. Lambie and Trotter, who had been able to match the precocious freshman up to that point, couldn’t counter Blood’s lift over the final two laps as she ran on to claim the win in 4:52.00, the fourth fastest winning time ever.

Not only is Trotter’s time the fastest ever by a New Jersey school girl (quicker even than Haddonfield’s Erin Donohue), but her time ranks with the best-ever for the Millrose Games high school mile. Her time was faster than the last seven winners.

Trotter praised the young Blood after the race.

"She’s very strong right now," Trotter said.

While Katy was battling it out with Blood and Lambie, Amanda had a nightmare. Two laps into the race she lost her shoe when someone in the crowded 10-runner field stepped on the back of her foot.

"I was pretty upset, but kept running," she said. "Things like that happen. I gave it my all."

Last spring, at the Group III state championships, the same thing happened to Trotter in the 3,200-meter race, but she continued on to win that race.

Trotter, who said she developed some blisters on her foot, but nothing serious enough to keep her from racing the rest of the indoor season, remarked that her mistake was not reacting to the move by Blood and Lambie halfway through the race.

"I lost it there, " she said. "I couldn’t get back into the race after that."

Amanda still managed a respectable 5:02.15 for eighth place. Katy and Amanda have run on the national stage before, but both agreed there was nothing like Madison Square Garden and the Millrose Games.

"It was a wonderful experience; it’s bigger than the Penn Relays," Katy said.

The experience itself overcame Amanda’s misfortune.

"It was so much fun," she said. "I had so much support from friends and teachers here."

On Sunday, the Trotters will look to defend their NJSIAA Meet of Champions titles at Princeton University. Amanda will look for her third straight 3,200-meter crown, and Katy will be looking to do the same at 800 meters.

Shore Conference Championships

The Shore Conference Indoor Championships were held at Red Bank Regional on Feb. 4. The meet was missing many marquee names as the Trotters sat this one out to prepare for the Millrose Games, and others took it off to get ready for Sunday’s MOC. Still, the meet was star-studded as the best of Monmouth and Ocean counties clashed.

Among the stars was Long Branch speedster Mike Bland, the Group II state champion in the 55-meter dash. Having proven his superiority against Monmouth County’s best, the Green Wave junior turned back the challenge of Ocean County’s fastest, winning in 6.63. Monmouth Regional’s Steve McQuay (6.75) was fifth. Bland’s teammate Chris Morgan advanced to the final and was eighth (6.91).

RBR’s Joe Kingsbery ran second to the conference’s cross country champion, Peter Hess of Toms River North, in the 1,600 meters, 4:27.95-4:29.24. Shore Regional’s Marc Altenau stepped down to the 800 meters for speed work and finished third (2:05.37) in the race that went to county champion David Gaines of Colts Neck (2:01.65). Mike Rucker of Monmouth was fifth in the 55-meter high hurdles (7.89) while teammate Barry Bostick tied for fourth in the high jump (6-2).

For the girls, Ocean Township freshman Tiffany Grant was third in the 400 meters (1:00.97) with Monmouth Regional’s Elise Hillman in fourth (1:01.95).

Hillman (7.64) and teammate Keisha Anderson (7.67) ran fifth and sixth in the 55-meter dash for the Falcons.

Red Bank Catholic’s Chelsea Bollerman was third in the 800 meters (2:24.72), just missing catching Howell’s Kelle Hand (2:24.53) for second. Southern Regional’s Lauren Lewis won going away in 2:18.31.