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Republished with permission granted by The Washington Newspaper Publishing Co. LLC d/b/a MediaDC. Back to Montgomery Journal articles
Glynn wins mile at Millrose Games
By DAN SHEPHERD
Journal Staff Writer
 Walter Johnson High School sophomore Sally Glynn has been so thoroughly dominant during her brief high school career that she's made spectacular accomplishments seem almost routine.
Well, add another record to her running resume.
Glynn clocked a personal-best time of 4:52.22 winning the girls mile in the prestigious Millrose Games on Friday night at Madison Square Garden in New York.
Coming from behind in the last 10 yards, Glynn leaned past tacey Carpenter of Hylton High School of Prince William County, Va, at the wire for first place.
The race, which pitted the best high school girl runners on the East Coast, was so tight that Glynn wasn't declared the winner until photographs of the finish were examined.
"I was very nervous five hours before the race," said Glynn, facing the prospect of competing before a capacity crowd of 18,000. "But as the race came closer - 10 minutes beforehand - I wasn't half as nervous. I don't know why. It was kind of exciting with all those people watching. I wasn't really thinking about the people, but concentrating on the race, taking it one step at a time."
For her victory, Glynn was awarded a $1,000 scholarship from Chemical Bank, a meet sponsor. Because she's only a sophomore, the money will go in a trust und until she graduates in 1996.
The time was Glynn's best indoors by more than 10 seconds, and it was her best ever by more than a second. It was the third-fastest girls mile time since the Millrose Games began holding the race in 1979.
The record is 4:29.2, set by Sarah Schwald of Colorado Springs, Colo., in 1989.
The race was the first time Glynn ever ran on a banked track.
"She led for the first 10 laps," Chris Flynn, Walter Johnson's indoor track coach, recalled. "But she got boxed in, in the last lap when she was getting ready to lap another runner. That allowed Carpenter to go around her. But Sally stayed on her shoulder and was able to edge her.
"What is really amazing about her performance is that we were training more for the outdoor track season [in the spring] than we were for now," Flynn said.
"It makes me excited to think what she's capable of in the outdoor mile come spring," Flynn added. "The best time ever in the mile by a high school sophomore is 4:42. Sally will try to run in that vicinity during the outdoor season."
Glynn's Millrose Games success followed a short, unusual string of setbacks. After the cross country season last fall (in which she won her second consecutive Class 3A state title), she just missed qualifying for the national high school cross country championships, a disappointment for her.
Next, she took a couple of weeks off. She got sick, further delaying her return. Then she had her shoe stepped on while she was racing in an indoor meet at Seton Hall University. Her shoe came off, forcing her to finish with one shoe on.
"But I had a good race in Baltimore after Seton Hall, and that made me feel better. I felt my time was halfway decent, and it boosted my confidence," Glynn said. "And this [the Millrose mile] really has boosted my confidence.
Photo caption: "File Photo" Sally Glynn of Walter Johnson added another win to her running resume.
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