What certainly shouldn't come as a surprise, La Salle Academy teammates Jack Salisbury, Matt Bouthillette and DJ Principe will be among the country's finest next month in the Junior Mile of the New Balance Grand Prix.
Salisbury, who finished second last year, qualified two weeks ago for the Feb. 14 meet with his second straight victory in the mile at the Dartmouth Relays. Head coach Vin McGinn and assistant coach Bill Myers were notified about Bouthillette and Principe on Wednesday night.
The honor is well-deserving for the La Salle trio. Salisbury made the best of his invite in 2015 by coming a lean away from a win, crossing the line with a then-best of 4 minutes, 8.76 seconds. He improved on that clocking a few months later by placing third at the Prefontaine Classic in Oregon with a time of 4:06.76.
This year all three runners rank with the nation's best in the distance events, including the mile. At a BU Mini Meet on Jan. 2, Salisbury finished fifth overall with a season best of 4:12.43 (US #3). Bouthillette was sixth at 4:12.65 (US #4) and Principe was ninth in 4:15.41 (US #8).
MileSplit RI also learned that La Salle's Eliza Rego will compete in the girls' field. Rego, the defending New England mile champion, won the RI Classic last month and was second at the recent East Coast Invitational.
The New Balance Grand Prix, which features several professional events, is scheduled to begin at 3:30 p.m. at the Reggie Lewis Center in Roxbury, Mass. The Junior Mile races take place around 5:30. An official schedule has not been released.