Dylon Nalley speaks after his great performance at the Alex Wilson Invitational.
====
------
Many eyes were on South Bend, Indiana, for the annual Alex Wilson Invitational inside the Loftus Sports Center on the Notre Dame University campus.
Marion super senior Dylon Nalley enjoyed another tremendous cross-country season in which he won his second 2A state crown. He would later compete in the Nike Cross Nationals in Portland, Oregon. Shortly after concluding his fine run that netted a 27th-place finish, he appeared stoked for the 2024 track and field season.
For some reason, it seemed like a secret even for the most diehard track and field fans. The "Golden Dome Two-Mile" race was explicitly set up for high school boys, and the featured athlete was Pennsylvania native Drew Griffith. Griffith, who won the 2023 Footlocker Cross Country title, has signed with Notre Dame and would give his future fandom a glimpse of what the future will look like.
Griffith toured the 10-lap oval (321 meters) in a newly minted US#1 8:38.67. It will not count as the national record because it's oversized. The time is an all-conditions best indoors and sets him up as a marked young man for the remainder of the 2024 campaign.
Nalley etched himself in history as well. "My training had been going well," he said before the start of the race.
Nalley nestled himself in the top five for the entire race and hit the first mile in approximately 4:25.
When he crossed the finish line, the time lit up: 8:50.47!
His time rates #4 all-time in state annals, only trailing Lukas Verzbicas' 8:40.70, set in 2011.
