Paige Sheppard executed her race plan to perfection and used her wicked kick to take down the defending champion in the girls mile and break several big records, including a world age group record, with an electrifying performance on Saturday night at the New Balance National Championships at Franklin Field in Philadelphia.
The sophomore at Union Catholic, who is poised beyond her years when it comes to her sound race tactics, outkicked defending champion Sadie Engelhardt of Ventura, Calif. to finish first in a stunning and eye-popping 4:33.67, the fastest time in the history of the world for a 15 year old!!!! And it's the fourth fastest time in U.S. high school history.
Englehardt was second in 4:34.46 and Union Catholic sophomore Sophia Thompson was eighth in 4:41.84. .
Here are the all the records that Sheppard broke with her jaw-dropping victory.
The 4:33.67 by Sheppard, who won't turn 16 until November 24, broke the girls world record for a 15 year-old of 4:35.16 that Englehardt ran at the 2022 Arcadia Invitational!
Sheppard also took down the national sophomore record of 4:33.87 set in 2018 by the great Katelyn Tuohy of North Rockland, N.Y, smashed the NJ record of 4:39.25 set in 2006 by Danielle Tauro of Southern, and shattered the meet record of 4:37.04 that Englehardt ran as a junior last year.
Englehardt, the favorite based on the U.S. No. 2 all-time 4:28.46 she ran on May 30 at the HOKA Festival of Miles in Missouri, took the lead after a 68.94 third lap, but she couldn't shake Sheppard, who stayed right on Englehardt's shoulder until it was time to pull the trigger.
As has been the case all season, when Sheppard hit the gas it was game over.
Sheppard, who had splits of 1:10.78, 1:10.92 (2:21.70), and 68.94 (3:30.63) for the first three laps, ripped a 63.04 final quarter!!!!
Sheppard now owns the fastest times by a sophomore in U.S. history in both the mile and the 800, and she holds all the NJ records in the 1,600 and mile-both indoors and outdoors, making her the undisputed NJ mile G.O.A.T!!!!
At the Brooks PR Invitational on June 8, Sheppard finished first in 2:01.50, a national sophomore record, No. 3 in NJ history, and No. 11 in U.S. history.
What will Sheppard, who has elevated herself to whole new level this season, do next??!
How about anchoring her UC squad to a national record in the DMR on Sunday?
Union Catholic came within just over four seconds of breaking the national record when it ran 11:24.53 to finish first at the Penn Relays in April. Ever since then, UC has been targeting the 11:20.44 national record set by Cuthbertson of North Carolina at NBN last year.
If you add up the PR's for Union Catholic DMR lineup for Sunday, which consists of Sophia Thompson, Taylor Aska, Kayla Devine and Sheppard, the national record doesn't have a chance of not getting crushed.
Stay tuned!
