Photo by Chuck Martin
Amelia Paladino, the recent Penn Relays high school girls mile champion from a week ago at Franklin Field, wasted no time getting back to tearing up the track. At the Gazette Relays on Friday in Charleston, West Virgina, the Universith High School (Morgantown, WV) senior Paladino stormed around the oval for 8 laps en route to a US #3 and new West Virginia state 3200 meter record of 10:00.43. The 10 minute barrier once seemed impossible or a rare feat in past outdoor seasons across the United States, but this year's crop of top national distance girls is making it almost become a norm with the number of girls close to breaking or just under the time. Just last week, Bethan Knights ran 9:59 at the Orange County Championships in California, while Alexa Efraimson set the bar for everyone at the Arcadia Invitational with her US #1 9:54 victory.
Paladino had a previous 3200 PR of 10:35, but it was not as surprising of a time drop considering her performances at other distances in her senior year including a 11th place All-American finish at Foot Locker Nationals in the fall (17:04 5K PR from Foot Locker South runner-up showing), a national runner-up finish in the New Balance Nationals Indoor mile (4:43 PR), and last week winning the Penn Relays mile in 4:45. With several girls running under 10:10 at Arcadia Invitational as well as Brianna Schwartz fro Pennsylvania running a 10:10 at the Baldwin Invitational this weekend then add in other names like Tessa Barrett, Hannah Debalsi, Stephanie Jenks, and Sarah Baxter...the girls 3200 is loaded across the country and will be exciting to see what the final US top 10 list will be at season's end. Will 10 minutes flat be the cut off?
