It may not have been the fastest race of his career, but it certainly was one of the most important.
In a tactical race, St. John's Ben Kovacs earned a berth into the elite Junior Mile of the New Balance Grand Prix with his victory at Saturday's East Coast Invitational. With the meet acting as a qualifier for the Jan. 28 Grand Prix event, the senior distance ace beat teammate Patrick Craemer to capture the featured mile with a time of 4 minutes, 26.73 seconds. Craemer crossed the line at 4:27.13.
Among other top performance by Bay Staters at East Coast was Worcester Tech's Adja Sackor, who leaped a winning distance of 19 feet, 2 inches in the long jump. That effort currently ranks No. 5 in the country.
Check out video of Kovacs' mile race below.
Ben talks about his victory and trip to NBGP.