Nevada Mareno Challenges The Untouchable Weini Kelati
Weini Kelati has been untouchable in her final year of high school competition. She collected wins at Foot Locker Nationals, the New Balance Nationals Indoor 5K and Two Mile; set a new national high school record of 16:08.83 for 5K; and took the New Balance Nationals Outdoor 5K and Two Mile this past weekend. The Eritrea native comfortably won the 5K by 20 seconds in 16:24.69, but she nearly suffered her first defeat of the year in the Championship 2 Mile.
Leesville Road, North Carolina, junior Nevada Mareno--who took fourth in the adidas Dream 1500m on Friday night in 4:18.48--held pace with the heavy favorite through splits of 2:28 for the opening 800m, 4:57 for the 1600m and on to finish a narrow second, 10:00.44 to Kelati's win in 10:00.38. The times rank No. 1 and No. 2 nationally.
We didn't talk to the athletes after the two-mile race, but we did catch Kelati after her 5K win on Friday night:
We caught up with Mareno after she took third in the mile in 4:43.39, her final event of a busy weekend. Fast-forward to 1:30 in the video to hear her take on the two-mile vs. Kelati: