Ellis wins silver in 1,600; Allen places fourth in 100

Redmond long-distance runner Anthony Ellis tuned up for his college career with a silver-medal performance and senior sprinter Allen Hall proved his worth at last weekend’s Class 4A boys state track and field meet at Edgar Brown Stadium in Pasco.

Ellis placed second in the 1,600 with a time of 4 minutes, 14.65 seconds, just behind the winner, Miles Unterreiner of Gig Harbor. Unterreiner held off a late surge by Ellis for the photo-finish win with a time of 4:13.72.

Ellis trailed Unterreiner with about 300 meters to go in the race before Ellis made his move, but he came up just a bit short.

“He ran a perfect race,” said Redmond coach David Peabody. “That’s the best mile I’ve seen him run. If the race was another five meters, he would have won.”

Ellis, making his second straight state trip, will run cross country at New Mexico State next fall.

“He’s got a great future,” Peabody said.

Hall, making his first state appearance, shocked the field – and even himself – as he crashed the 100 finals and finished fourth with a time of 11.04, just off his personal-best.

Hall tied his personal-best of 11.02 in Friday’s preliminaries before securing fourth place in Saturday’s tightly contested finals.

“He was very pleased,” Peabody said of Hall’s weekend. “He will be riding this high for the rest of the year. He saved his best for last, that’s for sure.”

Behind Ellis and Hall, the Mustangs finished 16th in the team standings with 15 points.

Redmond senior Mack Young was seventh in the 1,600 with a time of 4:19.20 and teammate Aiden Irish was 11th in the 3,200 (9:29.98). Jimmy Brookman continued to improve in the javelin with a toss of 176-0, good for ninth place and Dan Sanders was 12th in the 300 hurdles (40.45).