On February 1st, Charlottesville High School seniors, Elaina Pierce and Sam Palmer, competed at the 118th Millrose Games. This extremely prestigious and exclusive annual indoor track and field meet included elite professional athletes such as Team USA Olympian Cole Hocker, who recently broke the American record in the mile. Although the pros and amateurs were separated for most of the event, Pierce and Palmer did get to encounter a few of their running idols.
The Millrose Games are located at the Nike Track & Field Center at the Armory in Manhattan, New York City. The atmosphere in the Armory is undoubtedly special. Pierce described it as a “super small and compact” stadium completely filled with loud and cheering fans. The Armory was so loud throughout the competition that Pierce could not even hear herself breathing while she ran her race.
To Palmer, the Millrose Games were far from just another national meet. He said, “it was just incredible to be standing there warming up in the same place as all of these people that are Olympians and world record holders. Just sharing that space with them.” He emphasized that being on that stage was different and unique, but in a “really good way”.
Both Pierce and Palmer ran in the High School Nike Invitational Mile for their respective gender. Pierce ran a 4:45 mile, beating the school record and her personal best of a 4:49 minute mile. Palmer ran a 4:12 time in the mile, breaking the school record of 4:13, which he set only a few weeks prior on January 10th. Pierce placed seventh, and Palmer placed sixth despite an unexpected start where he was spiked right off of the line.
Only twenty-eight athletes from around the nation, fourteen per gender, were invited to compete in this selective event. Charlottesville High School is the sole school to claim two out of the twenty-eight athletes, which is just one indicator of Pierce and Palmer’s dominance not only locally, but on the national scale as well.
Pierce and Palmer will conclude their final high school indoor track season at either the New Balance or Nike Indoor National competitions following State Championships on March 2nd and 3rd, where they will both have the opportunity to defend their States titles in the 1600 meter. Next year, you can continue following and supporting Pierce and Palmer’s incredible running careers post high school as they attend the University of Virginia for Track and Field and Cross Country.
