Dylan Beard Goes From Wal-Mart Deli To Armory Record In 60 Hurdles

By David Woods for DyeStat

John Nepolitan Photos

INTERVIEWS

NEW YORK – Five takeaways from a 116th Millrose Games featuring two world indoor records and three American records Sunday:

USA and British milers vs. Ingebrigtsen

The Wanamaker Mile might not have produced a world record, but it produced Paris Olympics intrigue.

It could be argued the United States and Great Britain each will send three medal contenders to challenge Norway’s Jakob Ingebrigtsen, who will try to match Sebastian Coe’s feat of two gold medals at 1,500 meters.

Americans Yared Nuguse (3:47.93) and Hobbs Kessler went 1-2 at the New York Armory, followed by the UK’s George Mills (3:48.93) and Adam Fogg (3:49.62). So, four of the nine fastest in indoor history were in that race.

(Supershoes have changed track and field, but that’s a topic for another day.)

A 59-second third 440 yards prevented Nuguse from lowering his American record or breaking Yomif Kejelcha’s 3:47.01 world record. But Nuguse, as he so often does, pulled away without appearance of strain.

You might have to go back to the mid-1980s – Sydney Maree, Steve Scott, Jim Spivey – to find a U.S. mile trio matching Nuguse, 24; Kessler, 20, and Cole Hocker, 22.

Granted, 2007 wasn’t bad, either: Bernard Lagat won the world championship and Alan Webb set an American record of 3:46.91 in the mile that stood until Nuguse’s 3:43.97 behind Ingebrigtsen last September.

Skeptical about Hocker as medal contender? A year ago at Millrose, he was watching, not running, because of an Achilles injury; he ended the year running a 3:48.08 mile. He was third in the Millrose 2-mile in 8:05.70, under Galen Rupp’s American record and behind Josh Kerr’s 8:00.67 world record.

“Which is honestly insane,” Cooper Teare said of his training partner. Teare, the U.S cross country champion, and Hocker have relocated to Blacksburg, Va., to be with their former Oregon coach, Ben Thomas.

Hocker and Teare (eighth at Millrose mile) are planning to race both 3,000 and 1,500 meters in this week’s USATF Indoor Championships at Albuquerque, N.M., where a team will be selected for indoor worlds, set for March 1-3 at Glasgow, Scotland.

“I think I’ll need some time to reflect and see where I’m at heading forward,” Hocker said. “But more or less third place here at Millrose in a world record race, I can’t be too upset with that.”

Kessler showed his gold at the Oct. 1 world road mile was a signal of what’s coming. The Ann Arbor, Mich., native set a high school indoor record of 3:57.66 three years ago and has successfully navigated transition to the pros.

For the Glasgow 1,500, Britain must pick from the past two outdoor world champions (Jake Wightman and Kerr), Mills, Fogg and Neil Gourley, another 3:49 miler.

St. Pierre and mom power

After missing an American record (and the win) six days before at 3,000 meters, Elle St. Pierre took down another American record with a 4:16.41 mile. Running like this 11 months after childbirth is, well, extraordinary.

“I’m trying to not put too much pressure on myself early on and just take it one step at a time and be consistent,” she said. “Honestly, I feel stronger than ever.”

As with the men, intrigue has been added to the Olympic Trials in the 1,500. Top five at nationals last June were Nikki Hiltz, Athing Mu, Cory McGee, Sinclaire Johnson, Addy Wiley.

Hiltz moved up to 2 miles here and was fourth in 9:15.80 -- a time bettered only by Alicia Monson, St. Pierre and Emma Coburn among Americans.

In the past two weeks at 1,500, St. Pierre has run 4:00.34 (en route), Emily Mackay 4:05.04, Dani Jones 4:05.69 (en route), Josette Andrews 4:06.82 (en route) and Wiley 4:07.32.

Leave out the 21-year-old Mu, who is likely to focus on the 800.

McGee is 31, Hiltz 29, St. Pierre 28, Andrews 28, Jones 27, Johnson 25, Mackay 25. That’s a lot of experience to overcome for the 20-year-old Wiley, a new pro out of NAIA’s Huntington University.

Charlton channels disappointment into world record

Evidence of how someone is perceived can be seen in reaction to achievements. So, it was revealing to see peers surround Devynne Charlton to celebrate her world record of 7.67 in the 60-meter hurdles.

The 28-year-old Bahamian erased the 7.68 set by Sweden’s Susanna Kallur in 2008, one of the oldest indoor records. Moreover, Charlton became the first athlete out of Purdue to set a world record in 120 years – since Ray Ewry in the standing long jump at the 1904 St. Louis Olympics.

Charlton was not without credentials. She secured silver medals in 2022 at both indoor Worlds and Commonwealth Games, and she was fourth in the 100-meter hurdles at 2023 Worlds.

“I think at the World Championships, when I finished fourth place, just outside of a medal, it was a really disappointing feeling,” she said. “One of the first things I said to my coach was, ‘Now I have to break the world record indoor.’“

It is possible the world record could go lower in 2024. Third-place Tia Jones was previous world leader at 7.72, and Albuquerque altitude could give her a boost. Then there is Glasgow.

Another hurdler to know: Dylan Beard

As if hurdling depth in the United States weren’t already ridiculous, here is another name to remember: Dylan Beard.

He won the 60-meter hurdles in 7.44, breaking the Armory record of 7.45 set by Allen Johnson in 2002.

Beard, 25, said afterward he is unsponsored and working at a Walmart deli in North Carolina. His story resembles that of Cordell Tinch, who qualified for 2023 Worlds after being away from the sport for three years while selling cell phones and operating machinery to make toilet paper.

After Beard came Daniel Roberts, 7.51; Trey Cunningham, 7.52, and Tinch, also 7.52.

Roberts and Cunningham earned bronze and silver medals at 2023 and 2022 outdoor Worlds, respectively. In other words, if you can’t win a global medal, don’t bother to show up in the hurdles at nationals.

Beard stayed in the sport, he said, because he was disappointed about not qualifying for outdoor NCAAs last year. The Baltimore native was a seventh-year senior at Howard after stops at Wagner and Hampton.

He broke the Howard school record held by his coach, David Oliver, the 2013 World champion in the 110 hurdles. He is the cousin of Howard graduate Antoine Bethea, who played in the NFL.

Beard lowered his 110 hurdles PB last year to 13.31 (13.29w). He is 4-0 indoors this year.

Quincy Wilson betters U18 world record

Inexplicably, many high school superstars in the 400 meters flame out thereafter. (See Obea Moore, William Reed and Tyrese Cooper, among others.)

So, we don’t want to pile pressure on the small frame of 5-foot-9 Quincy Wilson. Yet it’s hard not to forecast about the future.

The 16-year old won the high school 600 meters in 1:17.36. That eclipses the fastest under-18 outdoor time on record, a 1:17.66 by Martin Hrstka of the Czech Republic from 2006. World Athletics is crediting Wilson with a world-leading U20 time, too.

Wilson, of Bullis MD, went from third to first in the closing 100 meters, a difficult maneuver on a banked indoor oval. He won the 400 similarly at last year’s New Balance Nationals Indoor.

He also beat Jaden Marchan of Leonia NJ (1:17.96) and Jonathan Simms of Allen TX (1:18.22). Marchan beat Wilson in a 600 on Dec. 29, and Simms set an age-16 world record of 45.12 in the 400 at last August’s AAU Junior Olympics.

In the 600, Wilson broke his own sophomore class record with the No. 2 high school time ever, behind 1:15.58 by Will Sumner of Woodstock GA in 2022.

Wilson set freshman class indoor records at 300, 400, 500 and 600 meters in 2023, plus an age-15 high school record of 45.87 in the 400 outdoors. This year he set a sophomore class indoor record of 21.02 at 200, giving him records at five distances.

Contact David Woods at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter: @DavidWoods007