Seven Moments From 2022 That Shocked, Awed And Inspired Us

2. Two Two-Flat 800 Meter Performances In The Same Race From Two Of The Nation's Best Females

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Results

The thing that boggles my mind here is the number two. 

Two high school athletes ran two minutes flat at 800 meters. Indoors. 

The first, Roisin Willis, broke the indoor national record and ran a time of 2:00.06. She also won the race.

The second, Sophia Gorriaran, ran the second-fastest time in history and finished fourth. 

The two best performances in high school history took place in the same race. That is a rare feat.

There is a lot of science behind why records are broken and why athletes go beyond the limits they often set for themselves. In 'Endure,' the book examining human physiology by Alex Hutchinson, he explains his own breakthrough in the 1,500m by writing "I simply ran, hoping to reach the finish before the gravitational pull of reality reasserted its grip on my legs." 

Sometimes, it's a balance of two factors. By some extent, there may be an out-of-body experience. You may just hit some gear you never knew you had. And the other could be coincidence. A timer in that same race of Hutchinson's gave him the wrong splits, letting him run a race outside of his perceived expectations. 

Here? The factors weren't coincidental. Both Willis and Gorriaran were in a field that included women capable of running sub-2. They also were on a track that historically prompted fast performances. And both were highly motivated to run with the pack. An extra layer ...highly-advanced spikes. 

If neither had run two minutes again, perhaps this would have been an anomaly. But Willis, who won Gatorade's indoor National Player of the Year in track and field, would go on to run two minutes flat twice more, and then would break two minutes at the World Championships. Gorriaran, meanwhile, went on to break two minutes in May again, before an injury sidelined her for the rest of the summer. 

Gorriaran, now the unquestioned No. 1 at the distance in 2023, has another year in front of her. She wants to be the first to break two minutes indoors. 

Did it all start in Boston? 

This story might come full circle in a couple of months.