There’s no question Altamo Aschkenasy had the coolest shades of the day.
On an unseasonably warm Saturday morning during Boston Marathon weekend, the Brookline senior also had one of the hottest races.
With a decisive surge with less than a quarter of a mile left, Aschkensay captured the boys’ race of the BAA Scholastic Mile in a near record time of 4:25.70. He won by a comfortable margin over runner-up Bilal Elhaji of Boston Latin, who was timed in 4:31.02. Aschkensay’s effort was mere strides from 2022 mark of 4:25.32 by former Framingham standout Sam Burgess.
“The goal coming in was to win, to compete,” said the Brookline standout, the recent Div. 1 indoor 1K champion. “I really just wanted to push my teammates and the people that I was running with today.”
Aschkensay was up front for from the start, but for most of the three-lap race he had some company besides him, including the closing stages with Elhaji on his heels. He made his move not too long before making a left-hand turn on Boylston Street for the final stretch of the race.
“The last 200 to 300 meters, around the bend, I just poured it on hard,” Aschkensay said. “Right when I turned that corner, I sped up. I knew that someone was behind him. I didn’t want them to tailgate me.”
Newton North’s Knox Wallask was third overall with a time of 4:35.71. Rounding out the top five was Brookline’s Lysander Duffierled (fourth, 4:35.75) and Wellesley’s Ben Aronson (firth, 4:47.51)
Newton North’s Ciara Evans claimed the girls’ title. Running side-by-side with defending champion Sasha Lamakina of Framingham for most of the race, Evans broke from her rival with about 500m to go and crossed the line in a triumphant 5:12.02. Lamakina finished at 5:19.51 for second.
Evans, who owns a best of 4:57.76 for the mile and was the individual winner at the Meet of Champions this past winter, didn’t really have a time goal in mind.
“Road miles are hard to gauge,” she said. “I wasn’t really looking at time, I was looking at the people around me and running based on that.”
Evans knew she had to be are her best with Lamakina in the field. The Flyer junior, who won last year’s race in 5:23, is coming off an indoor season where she had bests of 2:14.45 for the 800m and 1:32.85 for the 600m.
“Sasha is a friend of mine,” Evans said. “We raced against each other a lot. I definitely knew she was very fit. We were running side-by-side. I think it was a pretty hot pace that we were doing. I just knew I had to keep with the pace and keep pouring it on every 300 meters and break it open a little bit.”
The high school races featured runners from the towns and the cities along the route of the Boston Marathon – Hopkinton, Ashland, Framingham, Natick, Wellesley, Newton, Brookline and Boston. It was one of six races that were held near the finish line of the historic race.
Former Lynnfield and Boston College star Kate Mitchell was third overall in the women’s professional mile. In a tactical race, Mitchell was third overall in 4:44.94. Kenya’s Dorcas Ewel won with a time of 4:42.57.
“It was a lot of run,” she said. “It was so much fun coming out to the streets of Boston and to race here being from the area, especially with it being Marathon weekend. There is so many people here from all over the world. All here because they worked hard to run the marathon. It feels cool to celebrate that.”
MItchell, who competes for New Balance Boston, is a 2018 grad of Lynnfield, where she excelled in the middle distance events. She was a runner-up to Acton-Boxboro great Samantha Friborg in the 1,000m and the 800m her senior year at the respective indoor and outdoor All-State Meets.
She went on to enjoy a post high school career at Boston College, one that included qualifying for the 800m at the NCAA Division 1 Championships during the outdoor season in 2022 and the indoor and outdoor season as a senior in 2023. She has all-time bests of 2:01.73 for the 800m, 4:14.85 for 1,500m and 4:39.24 for the mile.
Mitchell now runs for head coach and former Bishop Feehan great Mark Coogan and New Balance Boston.
“I have been really lucky to have such great coaches that have influenced me throughout my life,” she said. “I still take bits and pieces from each coach. I was working with (Peabody) coach (Fernando) Braz in high school, coach (Bill) Wallace in high school. In college, I worked with Randy Thomas, Julie Heyde and Anna Willard, and now under Mark Coogan and New Balance Boston. I am so lucky to work with so many great coaches.”
