Star Runner Matthew Centrowitz Set For Millrose Games

            Running sensation Matthew Centrowitz will run in the NYRR Wanamaker Mile in the famed 105th Millrose Games, Feb. 11 at the Armory’s New Balance Track & Field Center in northern Manhattan.

            “I’m excited to be running and it will be my first mile/1,500-meter of the year,’’ Centrowitz was quoted as saying.

            A seven-time all-American and three-time PAC-10 champion in the 1,500 at the University of Oregon, Centrowitz will be joined at the Games by his father and sister, both of whom will be competing as well.

            By capturing the Bronze (3:36.08) at the 2011 World Championships in Daegu, South Korea, the 22-year-old Centrowitz became the youngest American to medal in that event.
             His best indoor time in the mile is 4:04.1.
             Last November, Centrowitz turned professional, thus bypassing his senior season at Oregon.  The reigning NCAA 1,500-meter title holder also claimed the USA 1,500 Outdoor title in June in Eugene, Ore., when he turned back eight-time Wanamaker Mile champion Bernard “Kip” Lagat, a Kenyan who has American citizenship and represents the U.S. in competition.
             Running at the Armory isn’t new to the Centrowitz family.
             Matthew, a 2007 graduate of Broadneck High School in Annapolis, MD, has competed at the Armory as both a prep runner and a college runner in the New Balance Collegiate Invitational. 
            Centrowitz is the son of two-time Olympian Matt Centrowitz. He grew up in Arnold, MD, near Washington, DC, where his father is the head track coach at American University.

            Centrowitz the Younger was a scholastic track star for the Bruins. His negative split 8:41.55 win in the two-mile race at the Nike Outdoor Nationals was considered one of the best races in prep history, and was the best high school time of 2007. He also set the Maryland state record at 1,600 meters at 4:04.09.

            Like his father, Centrowitz ran for the University of Oregon, winning the Pac-10 title in the 1,500 meters three times, and the NCAA men’s outdoor track and field championship in 2011 on his way to the national title.

            Matt’s dad, a member of the 1976 and ’80 USA Olympic Team, ran at the Armory for New York’s Power Memorial Academy.

            Earlier this month, Matt and his sister, Lauren, were in New York to practice on the Armory’s popular indoor track. Lauren, a five-time all-American during her career at Stanford (2005-2009), is scheduled to run in the Millrose Games in the women’s 1,500.
 Millrose musings

• LaShawn Merritt, a Gold-medal winner at the 2008 Olympics in Beijng, will compete in the 500-meter event while Lagat will be running in the 5,000.
• Jesse Williams, the current outdoor high jump world champion, and 2008 Olympic medalist Allyson Felix have confirmed their participation. Felix will compete in the women’s 60 meters, and will also take part in the Games’ inaugural NYRR Wanamaker Metric Mile for Women.
•  Seven-time Wanamaker Mile champion Eamonn Coghlan, formerly of Rye, NY, will be the honorary coach of Ireland’s “Dream Team” to compete in the  Byron Dyce College Men’s Distance Medley Relay against national college power Villanova, coached by five-time Wanamaker Mile champion Marcus O’Sullivan of Ireland, as well Virginia, Duke, Providence, Columbia and Albany.
• Tickets may be purchased online at www.armorytrack.com. Click on to Millrose Games for more information, including ticket prices and seating chart. Note: there is an eight-ticket limit for online sales. For group sales of more than eight tickets please call the Group Sales at (818) 276-6790.