Tradition-tradition-tradition.

Richard Rose, Shayne Simpson, Kareem Whittick and Shavanes Robinson needed just three minutes and 21.67 seconds Wednesday night to prove it's alive and well at Boys and Girls High School of Brooklyn.

There's no doubt about it – track and field tradition has always been in the DNA of the Boys and Girls student body.

National records? State records? Major international, National Championship, Penn Relays and Millrose Games honors? Glorious deeds by B&G student-athletes, past and present?

Yes, yes and yes again! They're right there in the archives of the sport for all to examine, and the run to the top rolls right on.

Rose (47.95 lead-off), Simpson (51.74), Whittick (52.20) and Robinson (49.78 anchor) wrote another page in the Boys and Girls achievements list with their 3:21.67 triumph in the Public Schools Athletic League section of the boys 4x400 relay at the NYRR Millrose Games Trials at the Armory.

And with it they led Clara Barton High (3:22.23), Paul Robeson (3:23.72), South Shore (3:24.53), Samuel J. Tilden (3:24.58) and Thomas Jefferson (3:26.52) into the PSAL final at the 108th edition of the classic Millrose meet, scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 14 back at the Armory.

Don't dare bet against them in that Millrose race 31 days hence - as they take to the Armory track in the meet often termed "The Indoor Olympics" in past years and still called "the most exciting night of the indoor season" by Armory announcer Dennis Kornfield last night.

Don't bet against them at the 2016 NYRR Millrose Games, either. Rose, the National Indoor 400 champion, and Simpson are seniors, but Whittick is a sophomore and Robinson a junior.

"We could have run faster, I know that," said Robinson.  But with the qualifying spot sewed up, there was no need to, either.  Robeson and Barton teams hung tough, but Robinson's closing burst broke it up. "I was just waiting to make my move," he said.

James Jackson is the Boys and Girls team's veteran boys coach with Jamaal Harvey as the girls coach and co-track coordinator with Jackson.  As proud B&G alumni – who came back to their alma mater after college – the school's track and field reins are in good hands.

"We're always hearing from our alumni," said Harvey.  "They keep in touch, they want to know what's happening. I see them at meets, I see them all over. They always come back. What these guys are doing now is what the alumni did for us, for years and years.

"So you know that group is behind us, and the guys running for us now know they've got to keep it going. It's just pride."

With a smile, Harvey made some comparisons.

"Our boys team, they're like Ohio State in football. Very good, very athletic, all of them. But our girls team (which has been less successful of late), they're a little like the Knicks."

Boys and Girls was the fastest 4x400 team on the premises – but not by much.

Mount Vernon, with Rai Benjamin delivering a 47.85 anchor, took the Westchester-Putnam-Duchess County qualifying section in 3:21.75.

In the other 4x400 sections, Half Hollow West (3:23.30) paced all Suffolk County teams; North Rockland (3:26.73) took the Rockland-Orange County event; East Orange (3:28.08) led the New Jersey group, and Freeport (3:30.57) was tops in Nassau.

Meanwhile, Benjamin Cardozo was running off with the PSAL girls 4x400 qualifying section in 3:47.21 over Paul Robeson (3:50.14) and Medgar Evers (3:51.38).

Suffern powered to a 3:55.86 win over Rockland-Orange rivals; Uniondale paced all Nassau teams (3:58.99); Hauppauge took the Suffolk race (4:02.52); Winslow Township was the speediest New Jersey team (4:03.51), and New Rochelle led the Westchester-Putnam-Duchess group (4:06.43).

Earlier this Armory season, Germantown (Pa.) Academy's Columbia University-bound Sam Ritz blazed to wins in the Bishop Loughlin Games 1,000 meters and the Marine Corps Games 800. But after setting all the early pace in the EmblemHealth Hispanic Games Mile last Saturday, he dropped back to fifth in 4:14.59.

The NYRR Millrose Games Trials mile pace was even more uneven – 2:18.9 at the half-mile mark – but Ritz was just warming up. He put the pedal to the metal and came through with a 1:58.2 closing half-mile for a 4:16.69 win to clinch his Millrose berth.

"That was some serious running," said announcer Ian Brooks.

"I just wanted to see how I felt (through the half) and if everything was right, I was just going to take off," said Ritz. "Some people may call it gutsy, or bold, running it that way.  But I just wanted get that qualifier."

After his first two Armory wins, he showed up in Sports Illustrated magazine's "Faces in the Crowd" section.

"That was kind of surreal," he said.  "But I guess most of the kids at my school know me now.

"But I'm not really famous.  Maybe just famous in this Armory 'bubble.'

"The Millrose race?  I think I'm right back in the mix now. It's going to be anybody's race. I know what I'm capable of.  Maybe I'll try some different tactics, though."

CBA's Blaise Ferro (4:20.68) and Patrick Tucker of St. Anthony's (4:20.72) were his closest pursuers.

Cumberland Valley (Pa.) High School's Mady Clahane ran fourth at the 2014 NYRR Millrose Games girls mile in 4:49.17 in a brilliant and surprising sophomore performance. Now, after winning the 2015 NYRR Millrose Trials in 4:58:11, breaking away from the pack with 1:13 final quarter, she's full of new optimism.

This was just the second mile of her indoor season – she'd run a 5:05 in the Bob Burdette Memorial Meet at Lehigh University on December 30. With a year to go before finalizing her college choice, this A-student has a world of opportunity before her.

"I definitely want to run in college," she said. "That's always been my goal.  But just where I just don't know right now."

Her memories of the 2014 Millrose meet remain vivid. As she said at the time, "I was beyond shocked at my 4:49.17; and just being there, in the same area as those amazing professional runners, that was just crazy."

Sprint titles down the 55-meter straightaway went to Newburgh's Zack Warden (6.40) and Miller Place's Sarah Militano (7.28.)

Weight-throwing winners were Syosset's Eric Sheng (with a mighty whirl of 68-7 1/2) and New Rochelle's Mopnae Cooper (51-7 1/4).

CHSAA Millrose Trials boys winners were Christ The King (1:30:04 4x200) and Chaminade (7:58.99 4x800.) Girls leaders were the Bishop Kellenberg sprint medley team (4:07.78.)

Special rounds of applause went to Rye, N.Y. prodigy Noah Gorevic of the Tailwind Track Club.  Last June, he raced to a world 1-mile record of 5:01.55 for 10-year-olds, at the IAAF Diamond League meet at Icahn Stadium.

Now, Gorevic is poised to be the youngest boy ever to break 5 minutes.  He'll run the boys 800 at Millrose and a terrific warmup was his 2:22.25 win in the Trials four-lapper.

"My heroes in track are Galen Rupp and David Rudisha," said Gorevic. "I want to be like them when I grow up.' "

And maybe someday, years from now, other young runners will be saying "I want to be like Jonah Gorevic."

Already not far off Gorevic's pace are Matisse Barreira of Our Lady of Lourdes School (2:22.25) and Ethan Rice of the Prospect Park team (2:22.87) who ran 1-2 in the other section.

By Elliot Denman // Photos by John Nepolitan

You can find NYRR Millrose Games Trials results, photos and videos here:

http://www.armorytrack.com/gprofile.php?do=view_event&event_id=7162&mgroup_id=45586&year=2015