The Butler High School senior Griffith most recently ran a 4:02.71 mile at the New Balance Grand Prix, finishing second to JoJo Jourdon's sub-four-minute mile, while Pajak, a high school senior at Ringgold, ran a 1,600m time of 4:13.41 and a 1:55.53 800m in his season opener at the SPIRE Ohio Preview Meet about a month ago.
For both boys, it'll be their first race of the season at the two mile distance.
Standout junior TJ Hansen of Freeland (MI) is also on the start list. Hansen walked away from the cross season with a 10th-place finish at Nike Cross Nationals. He ran the high school mile at the Millrose Games on Sunday and finished second with a phenomenal 4:05.87. That was the fifth fastest time by a junior all-time.
West Virginia's Brayden Marshall, meanwhile, is ready to start his track season on a high note and is coming off a 2-mile performance at Eastern Indoors this past week, clocking a time of 9:10.
The NC State signee won the Class AA West Virginia State Cross Country Championships in October before finishing fifth at Foot Locker Nationals behind Griffith and Pajak.
Dylon Nalley of Marion (IL) is another name to watch. He's coming off a 27th-place finish at Nike Cross Nationals, which earned him an All-American honor. He also won the Illinois State Championship before finishing third at NXR Midwest behind Cameron Todd (Brebeuf Jesuit) and Will Conway (Floyd Central, IN). Nalley beat the aforementioned Hansen in that race.
Speaking of Conway, the University of Tennessee signee is undoubtedly ready to run a fast one. He is coming off of a 4:06.86 mile at the Music City Challenge.
Connell Alford (Chelsea, MI), William Bauschke (Mishawaka, IN), Jack Bertram (North Allegheny, PA), Riku Sugie (Thomas Nelson, KY) and Colin Whitaker (Lampeter Strasburg, PA) are also slated to run.
Is the National Record Within Reach?
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The current two mile national record is 8:39.15, set by Edward Cheserek at the Millrose Games in 2013.
That's a tough time to chase after. Before that national record, Cheserek's indoor mile personal record was 4:02.21. In his record-setting season he only ran 4:10.94 over the mile distance.
The field is talented enough, but it is important to note that Cheserek was in a professional two mile men's race when he set the all-time mark.
This could be one of the fastest races we see this year until we get to the national championship races.
