CENTROWITZ TO HEADLINE NYRR WANAMAKER MILE AT NEW MILLROSE GAMES
By David Monti
(c) 2011 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved (Used by permission)

NEW YORK (10-Jan) -- Matthew Centrowitz, the reigning NCAA and USA 1500m champion and last summer's bronze medallist at the IAAF World Championships at the same distance, will make his Millrose Games debut on Saturday, Feb. 11, headlining the NYRR Wanamaker Mile, meet organizers announced today.

Centrowitz, 22, who last November left the NCAA ranks to turn pro, said he was particularly excited to compete in the Armory in Upper Manhattan, the same facility where his father, two-time Olympian Matt Centrowitz, trained four days a week when he competed for New York’s Power Memorial Academy. The elder Centrowitz competed on a track on the Armory's wood floor; son Matthew will run on a state-of-the-art 200-meter banked Mondo track known for fast times, like Bernard Lagat's USA two-mile record set last season.

"I'm excited to be running and it will be my first mile/1500m of the year," Centrowitz said through a statement. "To debut in the Millrose Games with my father and sister, who will be competing there as well, I can't think of a better meet to do it in."

For the first time, the Wanamaker Mile will be sponsored and managed by the New York Road Runners (NYRR), the largest not-for-profit road race organizer in the United States, which founded and organizes events like the ING New York City Marathon and the Fifth Avenue Mile. The NYRR's president and CEO, Mary Wittenberg, said that Centrowitz should run well in the Armory and will connect with young fans.

"Already early in his career Centrowitz has shown he can race with the world's best so he should be very comfortable on the world famous NYRR Wanamaker Mile and Millrose Games stage," said Wittenberg, an avid runner and former Olympic Marathon Trials qualifier. "We're thrilled to have Matthew race with us in the Armory where he'll provide a jolt of motivation to all of the kids who are in our school-based running programs who, like Matthew, also have big dreams."

Centrowitz will open his season at the New Balance Grand Prix in Boston on Saturday, Feb. 4, where he will run the two-mile, before racing at the Millrose Games a week later. He said that his training has gone well.

"I'm well ahead of where I was last year," said Centrowitz. "I had a great month of training in December. I'm looking forward to kick-starting the year with a bang this indoor season."

Lauren Centrowitz, Matthew's older sister, will also compete at the Millrose Games, competing in the first NYRR Wanamaker Metric Mile for Women. That 1500m race will also feature world champion Jenny Simpson, whom organizers announced last month.

More information on the Millrose Games can be found at www.armorytrack.com where there is also a video interview posted with Centrowitz.