In one of the most closely contested races of the day, renowned Alameda middle-distance runner Cooper Teare finished in fourth place in the men’s 3,000-meter race at the 115th Millrose Games Saturday, Feb. 11, in New York City.

The 2017 St. Joseph Notre Dame graduate finished the race with a time of 7:34.70. He was a little more than a second behind eventual winner Josh Kerr, from Great Britain, who finished with a time of 7:33.47.

Teare held the lead for a short time with about 800 meters to go, but was passed up by Luis Grijalva of Guatemala and Joe Klecker of the United States at the 2,400-meter mark. At this point Kerr was in fifth, behind Grijalva, Klecker, Teare and Jonas Raess of Switzerland.

Kerr trailed closely behind until about the 2,800-meter mark when he moved to the outside lane and used a burst of speed to take first place. He was able to fend off Grijalva and Klecker to cross the finish line first.

Nearly every athlete achieved a personal best in the race. Grijalva finished with a time of 7:33.86, while Klecker crossed the finish line at 7:34.14. Raess rounded out the top five with a time of 7:35.24. Thirteen athletes competed in the race.

The Millrose Games was the first competition in the last seven months for Teare, who now competes with the Nike Bowerman Track Club. Last year, Teare finished second in the 3,000-meter competition in the 114th Millrose Games (“https://alamedasun.com/news/teare-finishes-second-millrose-games-3k,” Jan. 31, 2022). However, Teare bested his time by almost five seconds from last year’s race when he crossed the finish line at 7:39.61.

The Millrose Games event serves as the first U.S. stop on the World Athletics World Indoor Tour this year. There were more than 30 events with participants ranging from professional, college and high school athletes at the two-day track-and-field competition at the Nike Track-and-Field Center at the Armory in New York.