NEW YORK, 6 February 2005 — Bernard Lagat’s upset loss to Kenya countryman Laban Rotich at Boston last Saturday may have stung his psyche.

The man who came within a stride of taking the Olympic 1,500-meter gold medal at Athens last August, only to see Morocco’s Hicham El-Guerrouj take it away in a homestretch duel that will rank as one of the most dramatic in Olympic history, isn’t used to losing to one of his teammates. So he took no chances Friday at the 98th annual Millrose Games at Madison Square Garden.

Following closely on the heels of designated “rabbit” Elkanah Angwenyi, another Kenyan, the 30-year-old Lagat, a graduate of Washington State University, sprinted the final five laps of the 11-laps-to-the-mile oblivious to any other runner in the field.

Roared on by the Garden crowd of 13,519, Lagat hit the finish line in 3:52.87, the fastest mile in the Millrose meet’s history. He’d passed through the 1,500-metre mark in 3:36.1.

Given that the Garden oval is smaller and slower than the 200-meter laps that are standard in international competition, Lagat’s time was estimated to be worth “about 3:48” on a bigger circuit.

With the world indoor record standing at 3:48.45 — set by El-Guerrouj at Ghent, Belgium in 1997 — this may have been one of the finest mile performances in indoor track history.

American Alan Webb took third place in 4:00.91, behind Rotich’s 4:00.33.

Lagat did erase the Garden all-time best (3:52.99 by Morocco’s Noureddine Morceli at the 1991 USA Indoor Championships) and the all-time Millrose best (3:53.0 by Ireland’s Eamonn Coghlan in 1981.)

Lagat’s time will rank as the 20th fastest indoor mile ever, and the sixth swiftest ever run on an 11-lap track.

In another notable event, Olympic shot putter Reese Hoffa — who’d failed to make the Athens final — unleashed a Madison Square Garden record throw of 21.62 meters to beat out Olympic teammates John Godina (21.17 meters) and Adam Nelson 21.00.

Stacy Dragila, the 2000 women’s Olympic pole vault champion, whose 2004 Athens bid was wrecked by injuries — she failed to make the final — continued her comeback campaign by winning at 4.48 meters.

No one else was in Dragila’s league — Tracy O’Hara was a distant second at 4.28 meters.

Another American on the comeback trail — Allen Johnson, who’d crashed out of the Athens 110-metre high hurdles semi-finals — took the 60-meter race in 7.53, then placed fifth (6.69 seconds) to Leonard Scott’s winning 6.59 in the 60-metre sprint.

Other international winners included Canadian women’s miler Carmen Douma-Husar (4:32.47) and Ethiopia’s Berhanu Alemu in a slow-paced men’s 800 (1:53.44.)

USA Olympian DeeDee Trotter, lead-off runner on the women’s gold medal 4x400 relay team at Athens, took the individual 400m in 53.94.