Paige Sheppard used her superior racing savvy and huge kick when she broke away over the final lap to win the girls' 800-meter run at the New Balance National Championships on Saturday night at Track at NEW BALANCE in Boston.
Sheppard, a junior at Union Catholic, hit the gas just before the start of the bell lap to blast past Jane Hickey of the Ursuline School in York and then just poured it on over the final 200 to pull away for the victory in 2:04.25. Carter Torrence of Western Albemarle in Virginia finished strong to rally for the runner-up spot in 2:06.07.
The splits for Sheppard, who came into this race as the big favorite based on her U.S. No. 1 and NJ record time of 2:02.35, were 30.74, 31.31 (62.05), 31.68 (1:33.72 ) and then she dropped the hammer and closed in 30.53!!
The victory by Sheppard comes the day after her electrifying 3:19.27l (perhaps the fastest 1,200 leg in high school history) when she led off Union Catholic's DMR squad that blitzed the field on the way to a stunning national record time of 11:06.13!! That shattered the previous record by more than 11 seconds.
Sheppard, who is putting together one of the greatest seasons in U.S. indoor history, now owns two national individual titles, but she's not done yet.
Sheppard, who won the mile at the New Balance Outdoor National Championships last June at Franklin Field in Philadelphia, plans to run the mile on Sunday as she aims to complete an epic triple!
Stay tuned!!
Paige Sheppard used her superior racing savvy and huge kick when she broke away over the final lap to win the girls' 800-meter run at the New Balance National Championships on Saturday night at Track at NEW BALANCE in Boston.
Sheppard, a junior at Union Catholic, hit the gas just before the start of the bell lap to blast past Jane Hickey of the Ursuline School in York and then just poured it on over the final 200 to pull away for the victory in 2:04.25. Carter Torrence of Western Albemarle in Virginia finished strong to rally for the runner-up spot in 2:06.07.
