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Strauss and Dissa Take Titles in BSR Elite Scholastic MilesPublished by
By Senior Correspondent Marty Ogden, Editing and Graphics by Ron Knapp The third New Hampshire Distance Festival, once again presented by Marathon Sports and HOKA, was held Friday night at Souhegan (NH) HS that featured two Elite Mile races where CT entrants took home top honors. Another Record Bites the Dust When former Glastonbury track coach Brian Collins texted me that Brooke Strauss won the BSR Girls Elite Scholastic Mile in a new Connecticut state record of 4:39.88, the chorus from a Queen song went through my head. Another one bites the dust It seems like every time Strauss toes the line, another all time CT record goes down. This indoor track season she has broken the 1000m record (2:46.05), 1600m (4:46.60), mile (4:39.53) and 3000 (9:30.58). And the UConn bound senior doesn’t just run fast; she knows how to win. In cross country, she was the State Open and New England champion and during indoor she won the State Open and New England champion in the 1000m, plus that little mile race in Boston, known as the New Balance Nationals Indoor Championships. Now she has begun her last season of high school outdoor track, and she has already run a solo 10:16 3200m in a dual meet and on Friday night at Souhegan (NH) High she faced a star studded field and drew upon her blazing kick on the final straightaway to become the first Connecticut girls to go under 4:40. With the exception of the rabbit who was a good 30 meters in front of the pack, she led most of the race with Mass champion Abby Hennessy of Westford Academy hot on her heels. Despite being injured most of the winter, Hennessy still finished 7th at NBNI from the non championship heat and was 2nd last weekend at Penn Relays. With 250m to go, she made a charge and grabbed the lead, but Strauss stayed patient and relaxed and passed on the inside with about 75 meters left and came out on top by less than a second. Nine other girls broke five minutes but were far out of the picture by the end.
Dissa is Golden A trio of Connecticut boys also made the 2 and a half hour trip up to southeastern New Hampshire with more noteworthy results. All American steeplechaser Soheib Dissa of Newtown came away with an easy win against many of the best runners in New England and several national class high school runners. The NightHawk has already faced the nations best several times this year already so he wasn’t intimidated by another quality field and tucked right in behind the two rabbits the first lap and went through in 1:03 for 409m. Once they pulled off he towed the field the rest of the way with Xavier’s Jack Ouelltette only a couple tenths behind him the entire way. When they approached the 1200m mark sparks started to fly as Dissa noticeably accelerated as Graham Heinrich of Marshfield (MA) moved up on the outside to pass Ouellette and challenge for the lead. That just spurred on Dissa as he was able to pull out a 27 second last 200m as he comfortably crossed the line in 4:10.43 with Heinrich at 4:10.91 and Ouellette holding on for 3rd in 4:11.87. While this time is well off Dissa’s indoor best of 4:04, it is a new outdoor PR and the 14th fastest mile in state history. Not far behind in 6th place was Alex Fisher of Loomis Chaffee, running unattached, with a time of 4:13.84. Fisher was the Nike Cross Regional- Northeast runner up in the fall and ran 4:09 miles last year at this race.
Check out the race video by clicking on the following link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHuUxk9BH4I Girls Elite mile introduction at 2:04 and Boys Elite mile introduction 2:25 Mercy’s Roberts Pops off a Fast 800m in NYC A little farther south at Icahn Stadium on Randall's Island in New York City, Trials of Miles sponsored Track Night NYC and Mercy’s Sarah Roberts popped off a big 800m PR of 2:10.44, winning by five seconds. Her time takes over the New England lead in the event and moves her ahead of Gabriella Hernandez as the 7th fastest runner in CT history.
Foss Running Camp Will take place August 14-19, 2025 at Camp Wah Nee in Torrington, CT Visit their website at fossrunningcamp.com for more information and to apply for 2025.
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