Local foursome shatters record

When Buz Male took members of the Albemarle 5 guys club to Boston this weekend for the National Indoor Championships, he expected his kids to do something special.
The 4x800 foursome has been flirting with the national record for a while now. On Sunday, Garrett Bradley, Zach Vrhovac, Luke Noble and Anthony Kostelac gave their coach a unique 63rd birthday present.
“I just got the best gift,” Male said.
The four runners didn’t just break the previous record of 7:42.22, they shattered it by nearly six seconds with their time of 7:36.99.
“Last night I went to their room to check on them and they’re in there shaving their heads into mo-hawks,” Male said. “I’ve got to say, when they were running, they looked like warriors. I’ll never forget this for as long as I live.”
Male has said a number of times this season that this relay team has four of the best athletes he’s ever coached, so expectations coming into this weekend’s meet were already pretty high.
On Sunday, things only got better as it was announced that the team now also owned an international record, this time the World Junior record according to the IAAF, which stipulates that every team member be of the same nationality and under the age of 19.
“I’m going to say something crazy,” Male said. “I thought they could do this. I didn’t think they could run 7:36, but I thought they’d run 7:39.”
After running 8 minutes flat during Christmas break, Male took his relay team aside and told them to not worry about anyone else but themselves.
“After that meet, on the way back on the bus I told them that I think that the only team in the United States that is going to beat you is yourself,” Male said. “If you do all the right things, don’t get cocky and don’t get complacent, I don’t think there is a team that can beat you.”
Now they aren’t just the best 4x800 team in the country.
Male switched up the order in the race by switching Bradley out front for Zach Vrhovac. The move worked, and by the time Bradley, Vrhovac and Noble had all finished their portions of the race, there was a buzz in the crowd.
“This place was packed,” Male said. “The announcer, Doug Speck from California is Mr. Track and Field News. After each guy would hand off he would tell the split, the time, and then said ‘If Anthony Kostelac runs 1:56 then they break the national record.’ Well Anthony ran 1:51.9.”
Added Kostelac: “When I heard 1:56 to break the record I knew I had it,” Kostelac said.  “At that point I just wanted to bury it and I ended up running a lot faster than I thought.”
Both Male and his team were struck by the atmosphere of the event, as parents and fans from opposing teams suddenly became fans for a short while.
“The great thing about track and field is that everybody gets involved,” Male said. “Even the teams that we were beating were cheering for us.”
Kostelac’s big weekend continued in the 1,600 where he put up a time of 4:09 to solidify the group’s top finish in the DMR.
Kostelac described the race as mostly strategic, as he lurked behind until the end of the race.
“With three laps to go I passed the guy who was in third and then the guy who was in second,” Kostelac said.  “With one lap to go I kicked it in.  It was a strategic race mostly.  I’m not really good at pacing
myself so I just like to sit back and wait until the end.”
Jordan Hill also put together a solid showing, taking fourth place in the 200-meter dash with a time of 21.93.
“I can’t leave out what Jordan did,” Male said. “Fourth place at this event, that’s really an upset. That’s faster than he’s ever run outdoors by a lot, which is almost impossible to do. He’s a stud. We’ve got five studs here. This is all so unbelievable.”
The weekend sets the table for the group’s outdoor track season as Male’s squad has big aspirations.
“There’s just so much room for improvement,” Kostelac said.  “We had even thought about running 7:35 and now we’re going outdoors where everything’s faster so it’s really exciting.”