Lennon looks to break 9 minutes

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Peru's Dan Lennon (left) warms up before the 3,200 meters at last week's NYSPHSAA Track and Field Championships. He'll compete one last time this season, at the New Balance Outdoor Nationals tonight. Staff Photo / Courtney Lewis

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June 17, 2011

Anonymous Press-Republican The Press Republican Fri Jun 17, 2011, 03:23 AM EDT

GREENSBORO, N.C. — For the past few months, Dan Lennon has been chasing Chad Noelle while most other runners chase both of them.

A Peru junior, Lennon placed second behind Noelle, a senior at Section IV's Greene, in the Division II 3,200 meters at the NYSPHSAA Track and Field Championships last week.

Lennon will have one more shot at beating his rival today in the boys' championship 2-mile run at the New Balance Outdoor Nationals in Greensboro, N.C.

Despite losing a shoe during the state race, Lennon finished in 9 minutes, 9.37 seconds. He set the Section VII record in mid-May at the Glenn D. Loucks Games with a time of 9:07.52. Noelle won that day, crossing the line in 8:56.02.

"The major goal is to go under nine minutes there," Lennon said of the national meet. "And — this is kind of like a minor goal — if I go under nine minutes there, I'll be on the top-10 list for 16-year-olds in the nation."

Twenty-five runners from across the country qualified for the 2 mile (3,200 meters) at the national meet.

Lennon has come a long way from his first season running track, not that it was very long ago — he picked up the sport last year. He ran a 9:34.13 at the 2010 state meet.

This year, Lennon has had an excellent three-season campaign in cross country, indoor track and outdoor track. He won the Section VII outdoor 3,200 title three weeks ago.

"Last year I had basically no running background before indoor track," Lennon said. "It definitely helped doing cross country and indoor (this season)... And then it just all worked out for outdoor, really."

Lennon spent the indoor season focusing on the 1,600 — in an effort to improve in the 3,200, his favorite event. He said he was confident in his endurance but wanted to increase his speed, which is Noelle's strength.

And while Lennon would love to finally catch Noelle today, he's friends with Noelle and the rest of the distance runners he's used to seeing in invitationals and other big races.

"I like to talk to them," Lennon said. "We always share training ideas and stuff. We talk about how we want to race. So it's like a friendly rivalry, I guess."