Sullivan, Janezich win relaunched of First Avenue Mile

HIBBING—Both Mileena Sullivan and Brady Janezich are used to running longer distances, 5K’s to be exact.

But both Sullivan and Janezich need to run some speed work to get stronger at those longer races.

They both took advantage of that Saturday as Sulivan and Janezich won their respective competitive races at the First Avenue Mile, which has made a comeback after a 20-plus-year hiatus.

Sullivan ran a time of 5:16 to win the women’s race, with Tara Hertling placing second at 5:20 and Emery Maki third in 5:31. Mileena’s mother, Serena, placed fourth at 5:39.

So how did they adapt to the shorter race?

“Basically, I just run it like an 800,” Sullivan said. “In the last 800, you run it like a 400. For me, it’s being mentally prepared. I get to warm up, but I tell myself, ‘Let’s just run a 5K.

“That makes it a lot easier because it’s only one mile that you have to do. You don’t have to run as consistently with your pace. You can sprint the whole thing.”

In the men’s race, Janezich ran a time of 4:48 to edge out Ryan Olson, who had a 4:52. Dan Scally had a 4:57 for third.

“You have to get ready for more pain,” Janezich said. “I mean, it’s over quicker, but it’s more painful. At times, you feel yourself slowing down, then you have to speed up. Even if you feel yourself speeding up, you’re still slowing down.

“I was going a little too fast. I went out at a 4:30 pace, then I slowed down a bit, like .5.”

In the long run, both Sullivan and Janezich agreed that this will help them in their future running endeavors.

“It’ll be really good,” Janezich said. “If I can get that speed going, you get used to the harder pace, so you can keep it longer.”

“The speed workouts help with kicking at the end,” Sullivan said. “It’s more speed endurance. I’ll keep doing that as long as I go on with life, but that helps a lot. If you’re going neck-and-neck with someone, you can have a little more than them.”

In the one mile recreational race, Nathan Wingenbach placed first in 6:24, followed by Ben Matvey in second at 6:42 and Kaden Adkisson third in 6:42.

Hailey Robinson was first in the women’s division with a time of 6:59, followed by Christine Walters in second (7:07) and Sara Jesperson third in 7:22.

In the one-mile fun run, Caleb Dybwad was first in 7:51. Avery Zubich was second in 8:08, and Kyle Hanegmon was third in 8:12.

In the women’s race, Riana Damjanovich was first in 7:55, followed by Hannah Dybwad in second (8:53) and Deb Gillitzer in third (9:16).

Race organizer Heather Matvey said the response to bringing back the Mile was overwhelmingly positive.

“We had about 181 runners as of Friday, then we got about 40 to 50 that came to register,” Matvey said. “We were very happy with the turnout for the first year of the relaunch, bringing it back.

“People were excited to be here. It was a positive, great morning. We lucked out with the beautiful weather. We were super happy with how things turned out.”

Matvey did say that there were some uncomfortable times when it came to runners registering for the race.

“At first, a few weeks out there were only 30 people,” Matvey said. “We thought, ‘Are people going to catch the vision? Are they going to get on board?’ As this past week went on, it was more and more, then all of a sudden, it went the other way.

“It was, ‘Oh my gosh, there’s so many.’ We’re pleased with the community response. They love having positive community events. That’s what we’re all about here.”

Now, Matvey is looking forward to next year, which could provide some changes in the race format.

“We’re anticipating growth for next year,” Matvey said. “We definitely want to be back, so we’ll plan for more next year. We’re very excited with how it went this year.”