Last Udland Standing: Blake Prepares to Run Alone

For the first time in his high school racing career Blake Udland will be alone at the top. With the graduations of his older brother Tyler and teammate Brian Robinson, two of the best distance runners in the school's history, the youngest Udland has gone from number three to number one on the depth chart.

At this point in his running career Udland has excelled mostly at the one-mile event, where he holds both the freshmen and sophomore records. While he's clearly an above average talent in cross country, he has not yet made a big splash in a championship event.

"It's certainly a possibility for him to get records. Certainly the mile and the 1,600 record.," said Millburn cross country head coach Jeff Kaye. "The two-mile, we'll see how things go, but right now his strength seems to be the mile."

Udland placed fifth in the Essex County Championships last season at Brookdale Park and sixth in the Super Essex Conference American Division. A sickness that ran through the team, and likely cost them some championships, kept him out of the sections and groups.

In dual meets this season, Udland will likely be a contender to win and will almost always finish in the top two or three. His biggest opponent in the conference and county will be Livingston's Jeremy Elkaim, who won the 3,200 in the Meet of Champions this past spring and placed second in the cross country conference championships last fall.

In the North II Group 3 state sectionals last season, older brother Tyler won with a 16:25 while the closest competitor ran a 17:01. While West Morris-Mendham returns a good crop of runners to the section, Udland has run sub 16-minute times before. He should enter as one of the favorites.

"My ideal is to go sub-16 at Holmdel," he said. "Last year I would've liked to be 16:10 or 16:15, but with the illness and everything it didn't work out the way I wanted it to. But ideally, 15:50 to 16 at Holmdel."

At Group 3 and the MOC is where things will extra tough for Udland, facing off against the Rosa brothers of West Windsor, who finished first and second last season at the MOC, plus Elkaim and many other runners. The good news for Udland only one finisher in the top 20 at the Meet of Champions last season was a sophomore. So if Udland doesn't win it all this time around, he'll certainly look strong for a banner senior year.

"I'd love to be top 10 MOC," Blake said of his season goals. "The county is going to be tough with Elkaim. I'd like to go top two at county and conference. [I want to] win the section and obviously at groups you have the Rosas, so top five group."

Because of the success of his brothers Myles and Tyler, he understands there are expectations that come with his last name. While he does not feel pressured to match what his brothers have accomplished before him, he is aware of the records.

"I look back and I say, 'Junior year, Holmdel, Tyler ran a 15:35.' And I'm like that's kind of a lofty goal," Blake joked. "I'd love to get those mile and two records. That'd be great."

He trained alone this summer for the first time in preparation for the season. He could've run with Tyler, who was bound for Princeton, but he knew he wouldn't have that luxury come September. While he can still run with the rest of the team, no one else on the Miller roster has clocked in the times that Udland has. There must be a difference between running with two of Millburn's most decorated track athletes and running with athletes who haven't run elite times yet.

"It's a change. I've got to get used to it," he said. "Running with the other guys on the team, it's a little change... Distance runs I'm running with the team and then workouts, for the most part, it's alone just because it's a little faster."

With two years left before graduation and three seasons each year, Blake has a lot of time to grow and a seemingly endless amount of potential. There's no questioning that he has a chance to be the last Udland standing on top of Millburn's record books when all is said and done.

"He's different than his brothers. He's obviously very talented," Kaye said. "Even Tyler has sometimes said that they think Blake will be even better, but there are different events. Can he excel at cross country the way Tyler did? I don't know. But in the mile, he's better than Tyler was until the end of his senior year."