Now that Evan Yukevich lowered the northwest Pacific record in the 1,600 by nearly two seconds, the question looms, how low can he and the guy he took the record from, Daniel Galvin, go?
That question probably won’t get answered this weekend. Yukevich won't even compete in the race. But the seniors from American School In Japan and Yokota are both set to take to the eight-lane track Saturday at Yokota’s Bonk Field, each striding towards a goal of breaking 4 minutes and 20 seconds in the event this season.
“I’m surprised they haven’t threatened it before,” said Dan Galvin, Daniel’s father and Yokota team coach. “I think they’ll both get well under 4:20; I think 4:15 will be the target.”
Such times would put the two distance speedsters inline for top honors in meets in many of the United States at the small- to middle-sized school level, said Bruce Carrick, longtime Kanto Plain meets marshal.
“It’s not crazy at all” to think of two runners well within reach of not just beating 4:20 but demolishing it, Carrick said. “That puts them in any state meet in the nation.”
While the two have been friends since running against each other in middle school, they are uber-competitive and take losing to each other hard, Carrick said.
“They do sulk after races they lose,” Carrick said, noting that Galvin appeared “really disappointed, while Evan was ecstatic” after Yukevich ran a 4:21.64 last Saturday, beating Galvin’s two-year-old mark of 4:23.42. Galvin himself clocked 4:23.38.
Normally, Yukevich would be getting ready for Easter break, along with other international schools except for Christian Academy Japan, the lone non-DODEA team entered in Saturday’s meet.
But Yukevich opted to stay at least through Saturday, taking on the 3,200, where both he and Galvin will face off against a first-time entrant from the Asia-Pacific Activities Conference.
Schafer Wilson, a senior at Concordia International School of Shanghai, was seeking a meet outside of China over the Easter weekend, Carrick said, and will enter Saturday’s meet in the 1,600 and 3,200 unattached. Yukrvich is the lone runner entered from ASIJ.
The 1,600 and 3,200 will be new events for Wilson; in APAC, they run the 1,500 and 3,000. Wilson is the reigning APAC 3,000 champion, with a personal-best of 9:10.79.
If Wilson is in top form, Carrick said, he, Yukevich and Galvin might all break the 10-minute mark in the 3,200.
“The competition is so good this year and this is really going to help me and Evan be prepared for the next level,” Galvin said. “I think we all have the potential to run under 10 minutes.”
The northwest Pacific record in that event is 9:31, set by Roger Olson of CAJ in 1974. “That’s hard to hit,” Yukevich said. “But 9:40 may be possible.”
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