JESUIT'S BRADY MULLEN (RIGHT) COMPETES IN THE 2023 TEXAS DISTANCE FESTIVAL
With a little help from his friend, Jesuit's Brady Mullen, who has not raced on a regular basis since last Fall when he was named the Gatorade Cross Country Player of the Year for the second consecutive year, opened his outdoor season with a 4:11. 09 in the 1600m at the CHS Tip Off Invitational at Catholic High School on Saturday.
The time is No. 3 all-time in Louisiana and No. 3 in the US for the 2024 outdoor season.
Mullen's friend and teammate, Michael Vocke, paced Mullen up until the last lap and a half.
"I was relaxing going into it, " Mullen said. "I really wasn't expecting much. I knew that Michael would pace me through the 1K and I would close from there. It was cool having the crowd cheer as I was almost crossing the line. Overall, it was a great season opener and I am excited to improve the rest of this season."
Mullen credited his teammate for his time.
"I want to give huge thanks to Michael," Mullen said. "I couldn't have done it without his perfect pacing."
Mullen's coach, Cullen Doody, also gave props to Vocke for serving as the rabbit for his teammate.
"Big shout out to Michael Vocke, who sacrificed his race to pace Brady, so he was a great teammate today," Doody said. "Just seeing Brady's time, that is not going to show up in the stat sheet so you have to mention that.
"I'm really proud of Brady," Doody said. "We skipped indoors for him and worked really hard on some base training for him and building a big engine. It's really exciting for him to be in that kind of shape right now. That race in general was really fast. A lot of kids probably got PRs. It was fun to see."
