John Blackburn: 'Clearly the best indoor mark by a S.C. athlete at this distance in 20 years'

Chapin senior Luke Lovelace ran a two-mile indoor best of 9 minutes, 12.37 seconds for eighth place in his second indoor meet at Nike Indoor Nationals in Landover, Md.

Lovelace outran two national competitors in the 3200-meter run, his first indoor competition, with a new St. Christopher's Fieldhouse record of nine minutes, 14.64 seconds at the St. Christopher's Mid-Atlantic Track Clash in Richmond, Va. Feb. 2.

"Luke (Lovelace) did a great job," said National Scholastic's John Blackburn.

"On the bubble, we decided to put him in the fast section and he delivered. I spoke to Luke after the meet and he told me he had hoped for a top six (and a medal). However when the leaders went through the (full) mile in 4:27 he wasn't too sure. I asked him 'You don’t typically go through in 4:30?' and his response was 'I have been winning my mile races in about 4:40.'

"So, hats off to Luke Lovelace in getting himself to the meet and putting down a five-second PR. Note that his performance is sub-9:10 for 3200 meters.

"Clearly the best indoor mark by a S.C. athlete at this distance in 20 years."

Blackburn added, 3000-meter run time for Lovelace should be 8:28.20.