Cherokee graduatre Jack Shea ran a huge mile PR Friday in the Wagner College Shootout at Ocean Breeze.
Shea ran 4:08.12, closing in exactly 2:01.00. That’s fastest ever by a Cherokee alumni.
Shea was out conservatively with 32.27, 31.78 and 32.36 through 600 meters. At that point, he was in 5th place, about 15 meters behind early leader Johnny Sokoll, a junior at Wagner.
But Shea ran sub-31 for each of his last five laps, closing in 30.73, 30.05, 30.35. 30.06 and 30.55, taking the lead for good on the 6th lap. Jake Ireland of Central Connecticut wound up 2nd in 4:10.68.
Shea, competing for Shore Athletic Club, is listed with a previous mile PR of 4:20.32 in January of 2022 as a junior at Northern Arizona in a meet in Flagstaff. That makes this more than a 12-second PR. He ran 4:19.36 for 1,600 meters at the 2017 Burlington County Open at Rancocas Valley, which converts to a 4:20.86 mile (but you can’t convert up anyway).
Shea ran 13:44.57 in the spring of 2022 in Palo Alto, Calif., the fastest track 5,000 by a South Jersey runner in at least the last 40 years.
The previous Cherokee alumni mile best was a 4:08.58 by Marc Pelerin, which he hit twice – outdoors at the New Jersey Invitational in Colts Neck in 2004 and indoors in New York at the NYU Fastrack Invitational at the Armory in 2009.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 