Three former BYU runners ended their 2024 seasons on Sunday at New Balance’s 5th Avenue Mile in New York City.
Whittni Morgan, Anna Camp Bennett and Courtney Wayment represented BYU and Taylor Made Elite, the professional women’s running group run by BYU’s Diljeet Taylor. On Instagram, Taylor said Sunday’s race also marked the end of Taylor Made Elite, hinting at an upcoming announcement.
Morgan led the three and finished ninth in the race with a time of 4:23. Camp Bennett finished 15th with a time of 4:30, while Wayment finished 17th with a time of 4:31.
Morgan’s time on Sunday came within seconds of the women’s road mile world record of 4:20.98. But any record set in Sunday’s race would not have been recognized.
The 5th Avenue Mile is not a certified World Athletics race due to the course’s downhill gradient, according to World Athletics.
On Sunday, British runner Josh Kerr broke the 5th Avenue Mile’s 43-year record with a finish of 3:44.3, which was also faster than the world record time of 3:56.13.
The 4:14.8 time of American Karissa Schweizer, who won the women’s race, tied the course’s women’s record and would also have been more than enough to break the women’s world record.
Whittni Morgan and Courtney Wayment’s 2024 season
Morgan and Wayment are only a month removed from their first Olympics.
Wayment competed in the women’s 3,000-meter steeplechase at 2024 Paris Olympics. She finished 12th in the final for the event and was the fastest American woman in the race. Morgan also made it to the final of her event, the 5,000-meter, and finished 14th.
Camp Bennett missed out on the Olympics after finishing 15th in the 1,500-meter at the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials. But she did end up running in Paris this summer.
As a representative of the 2034 Utah delegation, she ran in the 10K of the Marathon Pour Tous event, according to KSL-TV. After the Olympic marathon ended, Camp Bennett and the other 20,000-plus participants ran along the same course as the Olympians.
Who competed in the 2024 New Balance 5th Avenue Mile?
Morgan and Wayment were among the 20 Paris Olympians to compete in New York on Sunday.
According to the New York Road Runners, the 13 Paris Olympians in the women’s race were:
- Morgan, U.S.
- Wayment, U.S.
- Marisa Howard, U.S.
- Emily Mackay, U.S.
- Karissa Schweizer, U.S.
- Susan Ejore, Kenya
- Laura Galvan, Mexico
- Esther Guerrero, Spain
- Sarah Healey, Ireland
- Lea Meyer, Germany
- Nele Wessel, Germany
- Lauren Ryan, Australia
On Sunday, Morgan beat six of the Paris Olympians as well as Olympian Emma Coburn, who missed out on the Paris Olympics due to injury.
What is the 5th Avenue Mile?
The 5th Avenue Mile began in 1981 as an annual mile-long race organized by the New York Road Runners. The course begins at the end of New York City’s Museum Mile and stretches for 20 blocks along Central Park and 5th Avenue.
In addition to the pro mile events, the 5th Avenue Mile offers 30 heats, including heats for youth, seniors, journalists and members of the NYPD and FDNY, per the New York Road Runners.