Collin Boler opened his outdoor season with a stunning performance when the senior at Delbarton burned up the track with one of the fastest 3200-meter races in New Jersey history on Saturday night at the Arcadia Invitational in California.
Boler, who is coming off a historic indoor season, stopped the clock at 8:47.85!!! That's No. 4 in NJ history. He went 4:26/4:21 on his way to the sizzling time.
The time by Boler placed him 13th in a remarkably deep race, which produced a whopping total of 23 runners under 9:00!!! The race was one by Simeon Birnbaum of South Dakota, who threw down a US No. 2 all-time 8:34.10.
CBA teammates Joe Barrett and Nick Sullivan also cranked out a fast 3200's at Arcadia. Barrett ran a big PR of 9:07.21, No. 10 all-time for a sophomore in state history, and the Villanova-bound Sullivan went 9:11.23.
Boler's 8:47.85 puts him right up there with some of the legends of the sport in New Jersey.
The only NJ high school runners to go faster than Boler outdoors are Joe Rosa, who ran the state 2-mile record of 8:44.06 to win the 2010 New Balance National title, Craig Forys of Colts Neck, who clocked an 8:44.53 for 2 miles to place second at the 2007 Nike Nationals, and Jeramy Elkaim of Livingston, who won the 3200m at the 2010 Meet of Champions in 8:46.08.
Boler, a two-time Meet of Champions winner in the 800 (outdoor last year and indoors last month) is coming off one of the greatest indoor seasons in NJ history.
In February, Boler dropped a 4:04.05 in the mile at the Last Chance Qualifier at Boston University, No. 2 in state indoor history and No. 4 all-time in NJ history, indoors and outdoors combined!!!! The only NJ high school runner to go faster indoors than Boler is the great Edward Cheserek of St. Benedict's Prep, who clocked a 4:02.15 at the 2012 New Balance Games at the New York Armory. Cheserek is considered by many to be the greatest high school and college distance runner of all-time.
On NJ's all-time high school outdoor list, only legendary Marty Liquori of Essex Catholic (3:59.8 in 1967), Cheserek (4:03.29 in 2011), and all-time great Robby Andrews of Manalapan (4:03.49 in 2009) have run faster than Boler. Talk about some fast company!!
Can Boler make a run at Liquori's state mile record of 3:59.8 and Rosa's state 2-mile record of 8:44.06??
Time will tell, but he's certainly seems capable of challenging it.