Ben wins the Pine View Invitational - Photo by Kyle Perry
Two weeks ago at the Pine View Invitational, in a virtually solo effort, Ben Saarel missed the All-Divisions state record in the 3200. The record, held by Luke Puskedra, has stood since he graduated in 2008. Saarel missed that record by under 1 second at the meet.
On Saturday at the Arcadia Invitational, Ben used a 55 second last lap to dominate a stacked field, and in the process broke the state record that had been held by Puskedra. Saarel is now officially the fastest distance runner to ever step foot on the track in high school in Utah.
Ben's official time: 8:45.74
To put that in perspective, the following Utah athletes never ran as fast as Ben did while they were in high school:
Luke Puskedra- Multi time NCAA All American
Josh Rohatinsky- NCAA Champion
Seth Pilkington- NCAA All American
Ed Eyestone- 2 Time Olympian and 5 time NCAA Champion
Brandon Rhodes- All American and NCAA Champion
Farley Gerber- Olympian, NCAA Record Holder
Kyle Perry- NCAA Champion
Paul Pilkington
Brad Nye
Patrick Smyth
The list goes on and on of great athletes that came out of Utah, and Im sure I forgot many. But the point of the list is that Ben is the best high school distance runner in the history of Utah. With 55 second closing speed, it would be really interesting to see how fast really run in a 1600 or even an 800.
Ben has signed with the University of Colorado in Boulder and will be a great asset to the Buffs. Coach Mark Wetmore has a history of taking great talent and training them to become National Champions, NCAA record holders, and Olympians. It will be fun to keep track of Ben over the next few years and see how high he can fly.
