It was one of the meet's premiere events, and one of Pennsylvania's premiere distance runners nearly pulled out the win.
Nick Dahl of Germantown Friends ran a PA#1 in the 3200 meters, but fell just short of the win at the 50th edition of the Glenn D. Loucks Games in White Plains, New York. Dahl was up near the front for the entire race, pacing off Matt Grossman of Millburn (NJ).
Coming around to the bell lap, Dahl went to the lead, looking for a long drive to the finish. But Zakeer Ahmad from Staples (CT) was too strong. Ahmad made his way around Dahl in the final 200 emters and held him off to the finish.
Dahl still did dip under the elusive 9 minute barrier, running 8:59.35 to take over the state lead. The senior, who will attend Yale in the fall, has come tantalizingly close to breaking nine on a number of occasions in his career.
Watch the race above and check out the results along with other Loucks links below:
| BOYS 3,200 METER RUN FINALS | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PLACE | ATHLETE | TEAM | RESULT | WIND | H# | |
| 1 | Zakeer Ahmad | 12 | Staples High School | 8:58.86 | 2 | |
| 2 | Nicholas Dahl | 12 | Germantown Friends School | 8:59.35 | 2 | |
| 3 | Matt Grossman | 12 | Millburn HS | 9:02.04 | 2 | |
| 4 | Patrick O'brien | 12 | Oyster River High School | 9:02.29 | 2 | |
| 5 | Paul Dellinger | 12 | Brighton High School | 9:02.62 | 2 | |
