With Two New National Records, Bullis MD Track Team Proves That It Just Keeps Getting Better

By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor

Two of the toughest records to break in U.S. high school indoor track -- the boys 4x200- and 4x400-meter relays -- fell on consecutive days at The Virginia Showcase last weekend. 

But it's no surprise that the athletes who got it done were wearing Bullis uniforms. 

The track and field program at the private school in Potomac, Md. has risen from obscurity to the crown jewel of the prep level nationally since coach Joe Lee took the helm in 2013. 

Lee and his team of 14 assistants are drawing in talented athletes from greater Washington, D.C. and building a culture of excellence in the classroom and on the track. 

Lee's ambitions are to shoot for the moon, develop college-bound athletes and first-class people, set big goals and compete against the powerful Jamaicans at the annual Penn Relays. 

"We want to continue to advance the sport," Lee said Sunday after his boys ran 3:12.53 in the 4x400 and 1:25.60 in the 4x200.

"From a pure athletics standpoint, track and field is where it's at in terms of the pinnacle of performance. We want to shatter some of these pre-conceived notions of unattainable things."

This coming Saturday, Lee and Bullis will play host to the inaugural Bullis Champion Speed Invitational at The Armory in New York City. 

WATCH THE BULLIS CHAMPION SPEED INVITATIONAL LIVE

The event will draw top teams and athletes from Michigan to Virginia to Metro NYC for a five-hour meet after the conclusion of the Dr. Sander Invitational Columbia Challenge. 

"The Armory is like a home away from home for us," Lee said. "Since we're up there so much anyway, we decided why not put on a meet (there), focused on quality rather than quantity."

Requests to sign up for the meet rolled in once the word got out that Bullis was putting together a meet. 

"Bullis is part of the draw, no question," Motor City TC (Oak Park MI) coach Brandon Jiles said. "They are top level competition. If you run in your own state every weekend, your kids can get comfortable. This will be a good test against nerves and anxiety and we can see how they handle it."

Motor City TC, Nansemond River (War TC), Oscar Smith VA, East Orange NJ, Paul Robeson NY and St. Benedict's Prep NJ (Lee's alma mater), all schools with tradition and pedigree, will be at the Bullis meet for an event that Lee hopes can evolve into a tune-up for New Balance Nationals Indoor. 

"It's humbling that people would trust us this much with a first-year meet," Lee said. "It's a testament to our kids and they way they've represented themselves and the school on and off the track, that if we put something out there with the Bullis name on it, it's going to be done the right way."

The Bulldogs are the new measuring stick and everyone wants to take a shot.

"When (Bullis) runs fast it inspires me," Jiles said. "I don't get mad. I say, 'Wow, that can be done!'" 

In Pursuit Of Records

Junior Ashton Allen was the ring-leader of last weekend's relay records. He split 46.57 on the anchor of the 4x400 and led off Saturday's 4x200 by running 20.65 to gain the pole position for his teammates. 

Allen, whose older brother Eric helped kickstart the Bullis success, wasn't able to compete much in 2018 due to a hamstring injury. But he has grown and matured into one of the best high school athletes in the country. 

"He's doing a phenomenal job," Lee said. "We shut him down last year outdoors because we didn't want him running at something less than his best. He got with the right medical professionals who worked with him and he rehabbed the injury. Now, we're seeing what he can do. He's very special."

Allen said the wait was difficult, but worth it.

"It was very hard," Allen said. "So many of the people I used to race against were excelling and I wanted to ride with them. I just had to be patient, and rehab. I'm glad I was patient enough to wait for this year, so I can run fast. 

"I know we're not close to running top tier in January. By March, at New Balance, or whatever event we choose, I feel confident."

The 4x200 squad took down a 2005 Long Beach Poly CA record (1:26.09). 

Allen was joined on both relays by three recent transfers. Senior Andre Turay, a Maryland Class 3A state champion hurdler last year at South Hagerstown and third at New Balance Nationals Outdoor, has adapted to new workouts built around 400-meter training. 

Junior Ryan Willie of North County was a Maryland Class 4A finalist in the 200 and 400 last spring. He has known the Allens since he was 8.

Junior Jay Pendarvis Jr. won the Virginia Class 6A title in the 400 last spring for Annandale High. He ran 47.30 for fourth place at New Balance Nationals Outdoor to close out his sophomore season. 

"The three boys that transferred in, they've known each other for a long time," Lee said. "They wanted to run together. At Bullis, academics are a high priority. We have people reach out all the time (and say) 'Hey coach, I want to come to Bullis.' The very first thing I ask them is, 'What are your grades like?' Because even then, it might not be enough (to get accepted)."

The Bullis School sits on 104 acres in the affluent Washington, D.C. suburb of Potomac. The student-to-teacher ratio is 7:1. The enrollment is 813. 

It's a school for students that are driven to succeed and it's the place that Lee decided was perfect for building a winning track team.

"(The transfers) fit the mold of what it means to be a Bullis student," Lee said. "When they got to campus they were focused and had similar mindsets of being the best that they could be individually, and we knew when we put a (relay) stick in their hands good things were going to happen."

One of Lee's earliest coaching mentors was Maurice Peoples, the 1973 NCAA 440-yard champion. 

But the self-described 'mad scientist' has developed a training program at Bullis that is influenced, or informed, by some of the most successful coaches in the country, a group that includes Texas A&M sprint coach Vince Anderson, Tim Hall of Kentucky, Tonja Buford-Bailey of Texas, USC's Caryl Smith Gilbert and Quincy Watts, UConn's J.J. Clark, and Houston's Carl Lewis. 

Lee was a member of the George Mason track team in the mid-1990s that was coached by renowned distance coach John Cook. 

"That (college experience) shaped my mindset," Lee said. "The idea of molding a team with multiple stars and high level athletes. I think there were seven or eight Olympians on that (1996) team. I wasn't one of them, but I also wasn't treated any differently."

Across the Potomac River in Northern Virginia, Lee has also befriended Loudoun Valley's Marc Hunter, co-coach of the two-time Nike Cross Nationals champions. 

"What he's doing on the distance side is just as important for a track junkie as what we're doing," Lee said.

What Bullis is doing is raising the stakes on national powers like Western Branch VA and Nansemond River VA, as well as the sprint-rich hubs in Florida, Texas and California. 

Lee is not shy about pointing out that the venerated national outdoor records in the 4x100 (39.76 by Wyatt TX in 1998) and 4x400 (3:07.40 by Hawthorne CA in 1985) are coming into focus.

"It's one of those things," Jiles said. "The Bullis culture is so good. The girls last year showed the pedigree of the program. It is sort of unreal what they are doing, but in this sport you can expect the unexpected with the right group of kids."

Jiles said a rich area to recruit from, perennially strong age-group track in the D.C./Maryland area, and the school's resources, play a part in Bullis' success.

"Bullis is a great school. It's almost like a college," Jiles said. "So it's a combination of great coaching, a great talent pool, and the buzz around the area of being a great place to run track."    

Bullis bubbled up to become a national power over the past four years and started putting together all-time great performances in 2017. The girls ran No. 2 all-time 3:39.70 in the 4x400 relay to win the New Balance Nationals Indoor title. The boys ran No. 11 all-time 1:27.17 in the 4x200. 

Last year, the girls broke through in a big way with two national records in the 4x200 and two more 4x400 performances under 3:40. Masai Russell was the national leader in the 300-meter hurdles in 2018 and now competes for the University of Kentucky.

Now, the boys are in the headlines.

"The boys have seen the success of the girls and have had a fair amount of their own success, but never hit the big one until now," Lee said. "This year, as a unit, they put it over the top. But not one time in all of the years of the girls winning championships and breaking records did the boys show one hint of jealousy."

Early into 2019, it appears that both Bullis teams are ready to roll.

"I feel like the boys were always up there with the girls, but we just got hit with something (injuries) the past two years," Ashton Allen said. "This year we're strong and healthy. The girls are doing great as always and so are we. It feels good to have both sides going."

Bullis Season's Bests

2014 4x400 - Boys 3:36.5, Girls 3:59.15 (indoor)

2015 4x400 - Boys 3:29.50, Girls 3:48.12 (NBNO emerging elite champions)

2016 4x400 - Boys 3:20.65, Girls 3:43.92 (NBNI fourth)

2017 4x400 - Boys 3:13.24, Girls 3:39.70 (No. 2 all-time indoor, NBNI champions)

2018 4x400 - Boys 3:19.42 (indoor), Girls 3:39.60 (No. 2 all-time indoor, NBNI champions)

2019 4x400 - Boys 3:12.53 (indoor national record), Girls 3:42.06