Mekonnen dethrones Lagat at Millrose Games

Very stylishly, Ethiopia's Deresse Mekonnen deposed long-reigning Wanamaker Mile champ Bernard Lagat on Friday night in the feature event of the 104th Millrose Games, track and field's version of putting on the ritz.

Mekonnen ran 3 minutes, 58.58 seconds and finished as if he could have done it in top hat and tails, blending in with the passel of tuxedoed officials before a boisterous Madison Square Garden crowd. Lagat ran 3:59.01 and was passed by Mekonnen with four laps to go in the 11-lap race in which none of the other six contestants threatened.

Lagat last year won his record eighth Millrose mile, putting an expiration date on the august career record of seven by Eamonn Coghlan, indoor track's esteemed "chairman of the boards." So a ninth trophy appeared reasonable for Lagat, the 36-year-old Kenyan-born American.

But 23-year-old Mekonnen - the current holder of the world 1,500-meter indoor title who edged Lagat for the 2009 world outdoor championships' silver medal - was there to metaphorically ask, Wanamaker bet?

Behind pacesetter Matt Scherer, Lagat and Mekonnen settled into second and third place until Scherer stepped off the track with 4½ laps to go. Mekonnen surged quickly to the lead, and decisively repelled Lagat's final challenge with 100 yards to go.

Lagat said he had considered leaving well enough alone after last year's victory, but, "I told my wife, I love going to New York," Lagat said. "And what am I going to be doing, just watching the Millrose Games on television and think I just missed something special?"

Mekonnen and Lagat were just two of the spotlighted athletes at the annual meet that has been putting one foot in front of another since 1908.

In the women's 1,500 meters, American Sara Hall, three times a Millrose runner-up, flipped recent results with a 4:15.35 victory, and three-time Millrose winner Carmen Douma-Hussar of Canada was third.

Jamaicans won both the women's and men's 60 meters - Veronica Campbell-Brown (7.11) and Nesta Carter (6.52) - in what was billed as the latest chapter in a U.S.-Jamaica sprint rivalry. Harlem's Natasha Hastings, a U.S. Olympic relay gold medalist, won the women's 400 (53.60).

In an abbreviated form of the 10-event decathlon - shot put, 60-meter hurdles, high jump - 2012 Olympic prospect Ashton Eaton prevailed over reigning Olympic gold medalist Bryan Clay and 2009 world champ Trey Hardee. Brazil's new pole-vaulting sensation, Fabiana Murer, outdueled Olympic silver medalist Jenn Suhr of Rochester to win at 15 feet, 6½ inches.

Amid all the running and jumping, Ryan Whiting, six times an NCAA champion, muscled past three world former world gold medalists in the shot put (69-11). Christian Cantwell was second (69-4¼), Reese Hoffa (67-4) third and Adam Nelson fourth (all fouls).

Also on the Millrose menu were a pair of gimmick races. In the Super 60, Houston receiver Jacoby Jones (7.0) blew the doors off former NFL defensive back Anthony Dorsett Jr., bobsled gold medalist Steve Mesler, L.A. Galaxy soccer striker Bryan Jordan, former Arizona All-Star second baseman Junior Spivey and former Duke and NBA basketball star Jason Williams.

And in a New York police vs. New York firemen four-lap relay, the cops were on fire, the firemen left in their smoke.