BU John Thomas Terrier Invitational 2014Jan 23, 2014 by FloTrack Staff
D'Agostino to feature in Boston mile
D'Agostino to feature in Boston mile
Dartmouth’s Abbey D’Agostino will join the trio of Nike Oregon Project women in the mile this Friday at Boston University. The race, which is being set up as an attempt to break Mary Slaney’s indoor American mile record of 4:20.5, will see the reigning NCAA indoor 3k and 5k champion rub shoulders with some of the best professional milers in the U.S.
“With Mary Cain and Treniere [Moser]... it's going to be a really good race and hopefully Abbey will be able to get in there and run the same way that Sam [Chelanga] ran last week in the 5k,” Dartmouth track and field assistant coach Mark Coogan told Flotrack's Mitch Kastoff earlier this week. “Maybe she can just get in there and get pulled around the track for a really good time.”
This race isn’t just a novelty for one of the most decorated distance runners in the history of the NCAA. D’Agostino, who set a personal best at the indoor mile (4:30.03) last winter at the 2013 Millrose Games, is looking to run a fast mile for a second consecutive indoor season.
“She's definitely looking for a good PR,” Coogan said. “It's going to be a killer race. I'm pretty pumped up to watch it. We're going to do some 400s at 4:22 - 4:23 mile pace so she just has a feel for how quick it's going to be.”
This race will serve as both a nice homecoming and last collegiate hurrah for the Bostonian. As Coogan noted, the Dartmouth senior from Topsfield, Mass. has never really had the opportunity to run a high-profile race in front of her home crowd. Still, the race isn’t about shaking hands with the locals, it’s about giving herself a fair shot at the competition at an under-distance event.
“She's tough. I've never seen her not be within 1 or 2 seconds of a win in any race that she's been in. She's always near the front at the end of a race. Alberto [Salazar] does a great job at setting up races and he reached out to me asking if Abbey would like to be a part of this race. It's a good opportunity in Boston on Friday night.”