Florida's top unsigned distance recruit is officially off the board.
Tallahassee Chiles High senior Michael Phillips made his pledge to Syracuse University this week after considering the University of Michigan and hometown Florida State.
He moved to Florida for his sophomore season, where he finished as the 3A runner-up in the 1,600m. As a junior, he was fourth in the 1,600m and runner-up in the 3,200m. He won the 3A Cross Country Finals as an individual the past two seasons.
The congratulations rolled in on social media, including one tweet from one of the Orangemen's most successful runners, current senior Justyn Knight, who was the 2017 NCAA Division I Cross Country Champion and ninth at the 2017 World Championships in the 5,000m, where he represented Canada.
Phillips cemented himself as one of the best distance runners in Florida in recent years with two sub-15 minute performances this season, both of which came in the state of North Carolina. The Chiles senior ran 14:58.20 to finish runner-up at Great American.
He went on to sweep the state series with wins at districts, regionals and his second consecutive Class 3A Championship. His time of 15:14.69 was the fastest of any classification. Two weeks later he became one of the fastest Floridians ever at Foot Locker South, punching his ticket to San Diego in 14:59.00 and finished 16th after being in the top 10 for most of the race.
At Syracuse, he'll join a team that was 17th at NCAAs, and will join a recruiting class that includes Silas Derfel and Nathan Lawler of New York, Matthew Scrape of Ohio, and Nathan Beveridge of Pennsylvania.
By The Numbers (Personal Bests):
- 800m - 1:56.95
- 1600m (in) - 4:53.02
- 1600m - 4:13.53
- 3200m (xc) - 9:58.86
- 3200m - 9:05.22
- 2 Mile (xc) - 10:15.47
- 5K (xc) - 14:58.20
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Florida's top unsigned distance recruit is officially off the board.
Tallahassee Chiles High senior Michael Phillips made his pledge to Syracuse University this week after considering the University of Michigan and hometown Florida State.
He moved to Florida for his sophomore season, where he finished as the 3A runner-up in the 1,600m. As a junior, he was fourth in the 1,600m and runner-up in the 3,200m. He won the 3A Cross Country Finals as an individual the past two seasons.