As the story goes, the two runners first met at the local Ben & Jerry’s ice cream shop in Hanover, N.H.

It was the summer of 2006, and Russell Brown was back home after his redshirt sophomore season at Stanford.

It had been a productive year for Brown. He was the NCAA indoor mile runner-up, won a national title with the distance medley relay, and placed fifth outdoors in the NCAA 1,500 meters.

Brown recognized Andrew Wheating, a tall, gangly youngster from Norwich, Vt., a small town about five miles away on the opposite side of the Connecticut River, the landmark that separates the two states.

“I knew who he was,” said Brown, who became a local legend as a senior at Hanover High School in 2003 when he swept state titles in the 400, 800, 1,600 and 3,200, one week after setting the state record in the 800.