Billy Looney‘s 2017 season has started about as well as he could have asked: personal bests in the 600m, 800m 1,000m and mile, and he’s not done yet.
His 1,000m time of 2:23.66 at the Boston University Terrier Classic on January 28 broke the club record by more than 1.5 seconds. The time may qualify him for the USATF Championships in Albuquerque next month. In the same race, Victor Palumbo also ran under the old club record, clocking a time of 2:24.41, improving more than 10 seconds from his best time prior to this year. Adding to the weekend’s success, Nolan Kier also ran a personal best of 2:28.33 while Julius Mutekenga and Sean Atkinson had solid early season performances in the 800m, hitting 1:49.54 and 1:52.85, respectively.
Inspired by the heroics of Tom Brady, Looney traveled to Boston again two weeks after his 1,000m success to give the 800m a shot at the always-fast BU Valentine Invitational. Having run 1:50 for the first time in 2014 and numerous times since, the 1:40s had eluded him – until now. He crossed the line in 1:49.87 to claim the 3rd fastest time in club history.
Looney and Palumbo will next race at the Ocean Breeze Invitational on Saturday, February 18th in the 1,000m. Joining them will be Corey Wall, who ran a 4:08.52 mile at the Armory Track Invitational on February 4, good for a 4 second personal best.
In other action, at the Fastrack National Invite at Ocean Breeze, Julius Mutekenga ran 1:18.70, Sean Atkinson ran 1:19.68 and Nolan Kier ran 1:22.20 in the 600m.
On February 11, the men’s Distance Medley Relay took 2nd place at the Millrose Games with a time of 10:04, finishing behind Garden State Track Team. The team consisted of Brian Hill (1,200m), Julius Mutekenga (400m), Sean Atkinson (800m) and Eddie Mulder (1,600m).