Jake Gillum covered a lot of miles Saturday morning.

He started his day running the Steamboat Classic in Peoria running a 4-mile race starting at 8:05 a.m.

Then he made fast tracks to Princeton where he defended his Princeton Mile championship by the narrowest of margins, clocking a 4:08.2 to edge runner-up Dale Johnson of Sterling, who came in at 4:08.5. Gillum claimed the $1,000 top prize with Johnson collecting $750.

“That Steamboat race ended up being on the same day as this one last year. I had a fun day here last year. It just worked out ... ‘I think I can make it here.’ I really wanted to be a part of it again,” said Gillum, 27, who is the distance coach at Illinois State University. “I had my girlfriend drive me over here ... we were going a little quick, but she got me here about 10 minutes before the race.

“The Steamboat didn’t go super great today. It’s hard to get two solid races going. Last year, (Princeton’s) Colin Mickow was here. We kind of took it out and about half way it was kind of just us two. This year, I looked around half way and there’s six guys and I’m like, ‘Oh, boy, we’ve got a race going.’

“I love the direction this is heading. It was cool to be part of that. It’s fun being a college coach to get to talk to a lot of these guys who race in college and just hearing some of their stories and where they come from and getting to see what they’re up to training wise.”

Johnson, 20, who was leading the race as the pack ran by the Ace Hardware parking lot about the halfway mark, had a much longer distance to travel, returning from his college home in Brookings, S.D. to attend his brother’s graduation party in Sterling and run in the Princeton Mile.

“It happened to be my brother’s graduation party today. Happened to be a race .. ‘man let’s sign up,’” said Johnson, who runs for South Dakota State. “I made a move about 600 meters out. He kept with me and ended up beating me by two or three steps.”

Sheffield’s Elijah House, who placed third in the inaugural Princeton Mile, invited two of his teammates from St. Ambrose University, Dylan Grandon of Urbandale, Iowa and Chris Miserendino, 22, of Aurora. They formed a little bee hive with Grandon taking third at 4:11.3, good for a $500 prize, Miserendino fourth (4:15.6) and House fifth (4:16.3).

Grandon will be running in the FISU Games in Lima, Peru, which is open to any college athlete from North, Central and South America, and the timing was right to come to Princeton to run.

“I have the crazy opportunity to go represent the U.S.A. in Lima, Peru so I’m still training. (Elijah) brought it up and this will be a great race to check my fitness to see where I’m at,” Grandon said. “It’s once in a lifetime. It will be the only time I’ll be able to have U.S.A. on my chest and wanted to go for it.”

Miserendino said the Princeton race fits right in with his summer training with the upcoming Brady Street Sprints and BIX in Davenport, Iowa.

House said the hill on the home stretch hit him hard this year.

“I felt I was still in striking distance until we got to that hill. Everybody starting shifting up and I just didn’t make a move,” he said. “Still a head case. Just need to work on it a little bit more. Even though I would have liked to have the thousand bucks, it was nice to see more people out this year.”

Claire Fuhlhage, 26, of Normal defended her championship in the women’s elite division with a time of 4:59.8. She was happy to return and the $1,000 winning prize makes it a nice incentive.

“It’s just a fun race. It’s got great prize money. Definitely an incentive for people to come out,” she said. “Everyone here is just super fun and it’s a fun event overall.”

Ten year old Avery Edwards of Grundy center, Iowa, made an impressive debut, placing second in the women’s elite division with a time of 5:30.1, receiving a $750 prize.

The Princeton Mile brought out more runners than last year, including many family members like Princeton coach Michael Fredericks and his daughter, Eva, 11, (Eva beat dad). There was also the Waca party of 5 with 13 year-old Brecken leading the way with a time of 6:27.8, beating out sisters Alexandra (6:32.2) and Avery (6:40.5), and his dad, Eric (6:55.1), and mom, Rachel (7:08.9).

The Shofners, aka the “Mullet Brothers,” participated with Blake, 25, pushing his brother, Nolan, in his wheelchair. Nolan was born with Spinal Muscular Atrophy.

“It’s been awesome,” Blake said. “He’s got his Tobii Dynavox Machine (voice box) and making people laugh on the run, (saying) ‘Keep it moving fat boy.’”

Nolan adds that he was ahead of his brother the whole time.