Kohn to Compete with World’s Greatest at Millrose Games

SYRACUSE, N.Y. – Senior Aulton Kohn will compete with the world’s elite at the Millrose Games. Kohn, a sprinter with they Syracuse track and field team, is one of six collegiate athletes invited to participate in the 60-meter dash. The prestigious meet will be held in Madison Square Garden on Friday, February 2.

“It is a great opportunity to go,” Kohn said. “They usually invite the top six college athletes and it is amazing to consider that I am one of the top six in the country.”

“It is a huge honor for him,” said Syracuse sprints and hurdles coach Dave Hegland. “I think that it is a great honor for our team and our school too. It is the 100th anniversary of the Millrose Games this year. There is a lot of history there. A lot of great people have run there. A lot of Olympic Champions have run on that track. It is just an opportunity that not many people get and he has worked really hard so I think that it is great that chance to go down there and run.”

The 100th time the meet will be held, the Millrose Games will feature six college events. Kohn will participate in the men’s 60-meter dash while the other events include the women’s 60-meter dash, the men’s and women’s 60-meter hurdles and the men’s and women’s 4x400-meter relay.

The event will also feature some of the top professional athletes in the world. Numerous Olympic gold medalist and World Champions will compete at the Millrose Games, including Gail Devers and Maurice Greene. The meet has had some of the best athletes in track and field history compete at the Games, including Jesse Owens and Carl Lewis.

“It is going to be very exciting for me because you see these people on TV and now they are going to be right there sitting in front of you,” Kohn said. “That is probably one of the biggest things that I am excited about.”

While the reputation of the event is exciting for Kohn, the meet is also a great opportunity to show the rest of the country that he belongs listed among the nation’s elite. The defending two-time champion in 55-meter dash at the IC4A Championship and in the 60-meter dash at the BIG EAST Championship, Kohn has visions of taking the next step this season and showing his skills at the national level.

“I am very excited to go to Madison Square Garden and see what I am capable of,” Kohn said. “It would be the same type of people that I run against at the NCAA Championship. I just want to go out there and see what I have got against other sprinters. It is a measurement to see what I can do against other NCAA-caliber individuals.”

Hegland has high hopes for the senior from Beaufort, South Carolina. He believes that an invitation to a meet of this magnitude will help him take that next step and have his presence felt at the NCAA Championship.

“The thing I would like to see him take away is that he belongs with those people and he belongs at that level,” Hegland said. “It is nice to rub elbows with those guys (World Champions) and be at the same meet as them and even the same race as the top collegiate athletes. That is the caliber that we see him at and that is the caliber that he is starting to see himself at too. A sprinter really lives and dies by his confidence. Getting this type of honor, going down there, running well and being with those type of people (World Champions) should give him a lot of confidence. He certainly belongs there."

Syracuse University Athletics

Kohn to Compete with World’s Greatest at Millrose Games

Related News

Related Videos