Last Chance: Ends This Weekend

Can Ryan Hall of Big Bear break another record set by Jeff Nelson more than 20 years ago?

That question could be answered Saturday night when Hall runs in the boys’ two-mile race in the Meet of Champions Distance Classic at Azusa Pacific.

Nelson set a national record of 8 minutes 36.3 seconds in the two-mile as a Burbank High senior in 1979, but Hall is said to be in phenomenal shape after a cross-country season in which he placed third in the national championships and cut four seconds off Nelson’s 22-year old course record over Mt. San Antonio College’s 2.95-mile layout.

“He’s in very good distance shape,” said Mickey Hall, Ryan’s father and the coach at Big Bear. “He’s not in great [speed shape] yet, but he’s very strong.”

Hall recently ran 49:32 over a 10-mile road course in Riverside that Mickey says is accurately measured. That compares to a 51-minute clocking over the same course last year when Hall posted career bests of 4:06.15 in the mile and 8:55.12 in the 3,200 meters.

Senior Anita Siraki of Glendale Hoover, the defending state champion in the 3,200 meters, heads the entries in the girls’ meet.

The meet will start at 10 a.m. with the boys’ 2,000-meter steeplechase. The boys’ two-mile is scheduled for 8:20 p.m.