THE 118th MILLROSE GAMES was the undeniable highlight of the January 30–February 01 weekend, but it was far from the only one. Collegiate Records made headlines at Millrose, but there were new standards (and near misses) of other varieties across the U.S. — from Boston to University Park to Seattle — during what was the busiest weekend to date in the young season.
Ruthe Becomes Youngest Sub-3:50; Willis 1:57.89 AR
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, January 31 — Barrier-breaking American preps like Cooper Lutkenhaus and Jane Hedengren have been forcing a reevaluation of what’s possible for teenage runners the past few years. Now New Zealand’s 16-year-old phenom Sam Ruthe raised the bar even higher at the Thomas Terrier Classic.
Paced by countryman Sam Tanner on BU’s lightning-fast oval, he came in with an already stellar 3:53.83 outdoor PR that itself opened eyes the week before — and had beaten the old absolute World Youth Record of 3:54.56 by Kenya’s Isaac Songok from ’01. Here Ruthe destroyed his own mark by nearly 5 seconds. Along the way, he also clipped Cam Myers’ absolute WYR over 1500 by 0.01 (set outdoors in ’23 in a 1500 race) with 3:33.26.
Ruthe — who turns 17 in April — hit 57.52 at 409m and 1:55.55 (58.03) two laps later, before picking it up to 2:52.38 (56.83) and 56.50 to finish. The 16-year-old’s performance also beat John Walker’s historic absolute New Zealand Record of 3:49.08 from ’82.
Meanwhile, Roisin Willis continued a red-hot start to her first pro season with New Balance, taking her fresh, new indoor PR of 1:59.59 all the way down to an AR 1:57.97. That erased Ajee’ Wilson’s 1:58.29 from ’20. Willis did so in a runner-up finish to British halfmiler Isabelle Boffey’s world-leading 1:57.43, but also ahead of the 1:58.81 by Clemson’s Gladys Chepngetich, which shot to No. 2 on the all-time indoor collegiate list.
Penn State’s Roban Scares 800 CR
UNIVERSITY PARK, PENNSYLVANIA , January 30–31 — Penn State’s Handal Roban led a mass assault on the collegiate 800 CR and all-time list at the National Open. His 1:44.91 fell just 0.07 short of Paul Ereng’s 37-year-old standard (a mark Colin Sahlman would break a day later at Millrose). Georgetown’s Tinoda Matsatsa and Roban’s teammate, Allon Clay, followed at 1:45.12 and 1:45.17 to move to Nos. 3 and 5 on the all-time list.
The NCAA indoor and absolute 4 x 800 CRs would appear to be there for the taking for the Nittany Lions. The marks set Saturday by Roban, Clay, Yukichi Ishii (1:46.37) and Niko Schultz (1:48.14) add up to 7:03.51 — which would blow away Clemson’s indoor CR and surpass the 42-year-old absolute CR of 7:08.96 by Arizona State’s 1984 crew. Just beating the Nittany Lion school record would be a worthy goal — 7:11.17 from ’84, No. 2 on the absolute collegiate list.
Meanwhile, Matsatsa’s teammate Jaden Marchan blazed 60.62 for 500, good for No. 2 all-time college, while Hayley Kitching showed that Penn State’s 800 prowess isn’t limited to its men. The Australian junior nearly became the seventh collegian under 2:00 with her 2:00.01.
Hana Moll Joins Twin Sister in 16-Foot Club
SEATTLE, WASHINGTON, January 30–31 — Last February at the Big 10 Indoor Champs, Hana Moll watched as sister Amanda scaled a CR 16-1¼ (4.91), a mark which held up as the world leader for all of ’25.
Last Saturday at the Washington Invitational, Husky junior Hana improved her PR by 7cm to 16-0 (4.88) to become the second collegian and fifth American to clear the 16-foot barrier. Hana missed her first try at 16-0 before clearing, then boldly went for 16-4¾ (5.00) before calling it a day. Amanda was the NCAA undercover champ last March before Hana claimed the outdoor NCAA title in June.
Oji Threatening Shot AJR
CLEMSON, SOUTH CAROLINA, January 30–31 — Jessica Oji has started her frosh campaign at Penn in hot pursuit of the AJR, including her third and fourth throws at the Pollock Invite. She hit 59-11¾ (18.28) and 60-1¼ (18.32) here, after reaching 60-6½ (18.45) the previous week at the Penn Elite meet. Raven Saunders holds the indoor and absolute AJRs with her 61-1¼ from 11 years ago.
