Girls 3000m | |||||
Event Info: 2015 Winner: Bella Burda (Arlington) 9:58.10, State Record: 9:04.51 (standard track), 9:02.10 (oversized track) Meet Record: 9:29.89, State Qualifier Mark (FAT): 10.21.14 | |||||
State of the Action: The seeds didn't lie: this race would be a battle brought over from XC. Kaitlyn Neal, the top seed, knew she had one race to run. As the gun went off, she powered away from the clutter, and established herself the leader by the opening break. The field quickly strung out, with people's race plans becoming apparent earlier than normal. Abbey Wheeler sat on the heels of Neal, keeping stride with her on a strong pace. With a significant gap behind her were the two kickers in the field, Jessica Lawson and Kelsey Chmiel. Lawson had won multiple state titles with the use of her kick, while Chmiel did much the same at NXN, moving up to 5th overall. As the splits rolled through consistently at 37secs, Neal came through the 1600m at 5:00.82, Wheeler still hot on her heels at 5:02, but beginning to feel the toll of the race. Lawson and Chmiel both came through at 5:06, with Katie Munks now in contention at 5:08. The pace continued, and the transitions began to appear. Lawson was picking up the pace on the leaders. Her pace quickened, and saw Wheeler coming back towards her. By 800m, Lawson had passed Wheeler, now having eyes on Neal, who was still powering away out front. Lawson began to accelerate, putting in laps at half a second swifter than Neal closing the gap. With 400m to go, Neal had the crowd to let her know Lawson was coming. She dug her heels into the pace, and continued to grind through. With the bell lap, Neal gave one final push off a pace that saw her only exceed 39secs per lap twice. Neal came across the line just under the former meet record. Lawson had seen Neal ring the bell signalling the final lap, and kicked with what she had left. She came through with a 34.44 final 200m, the fastest of any athlete in the field, at any point of the race, to grab second place. Chmiel, likewise, had more left in her legs, and split a 35.43 to just dip under Wheeler at the line, to grab third, a new State Record for her efforts as well.
Notable Marks: Meet Record - Kaitlyn Neal State Record - Freshman Class - Kelsey Chmiel | |||||
Tracking Shot | |||||
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Top Athletes - Overall | |||||
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