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“Honestly, I felt I had the confidence to make it past him,’’ said Randon, who ran a personal best at 4:12.89. Wynne won in 4:11.73 and held off two strong surges by Randon, who runs for Middlesex School in Massachusetts. “I think if I made one surge, things could have been different and maybe had a different result. Still, it was pretty fun and I was happy with how I did.”
Randon had several things working against him. He had not raced since December. Also, because Middlesex does not have an indoor track, he had not done much speed training. But Wynne has raced extensively over the past month for Staples, which has an indoor track.
“I’ve been building a base, and I’m not really in race mode,’’ Randon said. “I trained right through this race. I was doing hard workouts just a couple of days before it.”
He just came off a terrific cross country season for Middlesex, leading the team to the New England Division III championship. He finished undefeated against private school runners and finished 34th in December in the Nike Cross Country Nationals in Portland, Ore.
Randon was questioning his future after his success in the longer distances. The strong race at the New Balance meet restored his confidence as a miler. “During cross country, I was thinking maybe I’m a longer guy,’’ he said. “I’m happy I can call myself a miler again.”
His mile time is the third fastest in the nation this winter, and he owns the fastest indoor time in 3,000 meters, according to the website MileSplit.com.
His next meet is the USA Track and Field New England Open Championships on Feb. 17 in Boston, where he will run the 3,000 meters. He’s also planning to run the New Balance Indoor meet in March in New York City, where he could meet Wynne again.
Randon committed to Yale University in the fall and will be attending a college closer to his home than his high school.
“It had the combination of everything I wanted in academics and athletics,’’ he said. “I wanted to be part of a program that I could contribute to. I’m excited to be a part of it next year.”
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