Willis part of both memorable efforts, joining fellow Stanford commits Parekh, Stewart and Wells on 4xmile relay that runs 19:30.13, before teaming with Stanford signee Whittaker, Arkansas-bound Cochran and Ince on DMR to clock 11:15.45

By Erik Boal, DyeStat Editor

Seven of the nation’s top prep distance runners combined to produce a pair of historic relay marks Saturday at the Meet of Champions at the Gately Indoor Track and Field Center in Chicago.

Roisin Willis of Stevens Point, Wisc., contributed to both all-time marks in the 4xmile relay, as well as the distance medley relay, which both achieved the fastest performances by not only prep quartets, but American Under-20 lineups as well.

Willis teamed with Caroline Wells of Winter Springs, Fla., along with Ava Parekh of Latin School in Chicago and Riley Stewart of Cherry Creek High in Colorado to clock 19 minutes, 30.13 seconds in the 4xmile relay.

The quartet, which has all signed to attend Stanford University, ran faster than the absolute prep mark of 19:40.67 achieved in July by Saratoga Springs High of New York at The Outdoor Nationals, presented by Nike, at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore.

Saratoga Springs also boasts the fastest indoor prep 4xmile mark in history with its 19:59.24 performance in 2005.

Since the all-star group doesn’t attend the same school, their mark won’t be considered as a national high school record, but will be recognized as the top American Under-20 all-time performance, with Willis running 4:50.67 on the opening leg, followed by a 4:51.09 split from Wells, with Parekh clocking 5:03.62 and Stewart anchoring in 4;44.75.

Willis returned to the track a short time later to join Juliette Whittaker of Mount de Sales High in Maryland, Ali Ince of Normal Community in Illinois and Mia Cochran of Moon Area High in Pennsylvania on the distance medley relay that also achieved all-time prep and American Under-20 performances by running 11:15.45.

Purple Track Club, consisting of athletes from Ann Arbor Pioneer High in Michigan, ran 11:21.95 on Feb. 12 at the Saginaw Valley State University Distance Festival, although the performance came on a 300-meter flat track. In order for the mark to be record eligible, Ann Arbor Pioneer needed to contest the event on a 200-meter indoor track.

Whittaker, another Stanford commit who achieved the fastest 1,000-meter indoor performance in prep history Feb. 27 by clocking 2:39.41 at the Ocean Breeze Elite Invitational, opened the DMR with a 1,200 split of 3:20.65.

Willis returned from her mile effort to clock 53.64 on the 400, followed by Ince producing an 800 split of 2:12.05 and the Arkansas-bound Cochran anchoring the final 1,600 in 4:49.11.

Purple Track Club also had a presence at the meet, with five athletes running under 2:20 in the 800, led by Rachel Forsyth winning in 2:06.30.

Sarah Forsyth clocked 2:12.39, Cookie Baugh ran 2:13.36, Lauren Kiley followed in 2:16.06 and Emily Cooper rounded out the impressive group in 2:19.16.

In a pair of professional 800 races, Shane Streich of Atlanta Track Club – who finished third Feb. 27 at the USATF Indoor Championships at The Podium in Spokane, Wash. – prevailed in the men’s competition in 1:45.90, followed by Quamel Prince of District Track Club running 1:46.35.

Olivia Baker, representing Atlanta Track Club, followed her runner-up performance at the USATF Indoor Championships by winning the women’s event in 2:00.39, followed by Emily Richards in 2:01.98.