The Bernards boys DMR squad made their presence felt in a big way by leveling up with a fourth-place finish and one of the fastest times in U.S. history at Sunday's New Balance National Championships at Franklin Field in Philadelphia.
The foursome of senior John Richardson (3:03.29), senior Cyrus Mehrrostami (51.04), senior Michael Dooley (1:53.80) and junior Brody Watt (4:07.71) combined to freeze the numbers on the clock at 9:55.83!!!!!
That time places Bernards No. 11 all-time in U.S. history and No. 4 all-time in New Jersey!!!
The 9:55.83 is a huge drop from the previous season best for Bernards of 10:11.04 that it ran to place sixth in the DMR at the Penn Relays. Bernards ran 10:08.72 indoors.
The only DMR teams in NJ history who have run faster than Bernards are Westfield (9:50.11 to place 3rd at NBN last year), St. Benedict's Prep (9:51.97 to finish first at the 2011 NB Nationals), and West Windsor-Plainsboro North (9:54.78 to place second to St. Benedict's Prep at the 2011 NB Nationals).
The 9:55.83 also destroyed the Bernards school record of 10:00.9 that the Mountaineers ran when they placed second to Willingboro, who ran the same exact time, in the epic finish at the 1983 Penn Relays! The 10:00.9 was the national record at that time.
New Jersey took four of the top 10 places in the DMR as Bernards led a strong 4-6-8-10 showing by the Garden State. Colts Neck was sixth in 10:04.38, Haddonfield was 8th in a Camden County record 10:06.48, and Union Catholic finished 10th in 10:12.74.