* Paige Sheppard took down a loaded 800m field running 2:02.37 at Track Night NYC
Photo Credit: Andrew Brown/MileSplit
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Class of 2027
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It's hard to deny Paige Sheppard of being COROS Distance Athlete of the week after her 2:02.37 800m over a loaded field at Track Night NYC on Friday night. Sheppard battled with Jane Hickey (Ursuline School, NY) and Natalie Dumas (Eastern Regional, NJ) in a field that posted 6 of the top 10 girls 800m times in the country this outdoor season.
The field would be taken out fast by a pacer as the top four girls in the field would cross 400m in under 60 seconds with Dumas, then Hickey, then Sheppard in that order. Hickey looked to make her move after crossing 400m, but Dumas shut the door starting to pull away heading into the backstretch. Hickey would respond and close the gap as the battle looked to be between those two with a gap formed back to Sheppard and the field.
But Sheppard would do what she does over the final 200m as gears would switch and the gap to the front disappeared rather quickly. She'd storm past the two down the homestretch to take a convincing win in 2:02.37 with Hickey running 2:03.68 ahead of Dumas' 2:04.00 for second and third. Sheppard would split 59.55 and 1:02.83 posting a time 1.5 seconds faster than her 2:03.84 at the same event in 2025. Sheppard finished the year with a Brooks PR win in 2:01.50 proving sub 2 will be challenge at the end of her junior year.
Class of 2026
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Track Night NYC took place last Friday night from Icahn Stadium and the Brunswick School senior Nathan Lee took 3 seconds off his personal best of 4:08.54 to take the win in 4:05.25 in dramatic fashion. Competing in the Elite Mile section he made a pass over sophomore Abdi Hassan (Lotus School for Excellence, CO) at the line to take the win by .04 seconds.
The pace was taken out for the field in 2:02.28 through 809m. Four boys went out with the two pacesetters as Lee sat at the tail end in fourth with the field breaking slightly after him. Hasan and Liam Luff (Trinity School, NY) has a slight lead out front and Lee moved up into third to close the gap as they crossed the halfway mark. Lee made contact with Hasan and Luff as the pacer dropped off just before 1200m. Just as Hasan looked to be pulling away, Lee charged down the homestretch to the lead prior to the turn.
The two would battle over the final 400m with Hasan making a move to fight for the lead down the backstretch as Lee tried to fight off the pass before the final turn. Hasan would take the lead, but Lee was not going away. Hasan lead down the homestretch looking like he'd outlast Lee, but Lee fought through the line to shock Hasan at the line and take the narrow win in a thrilling final 400m.
The Harvard commit's mark is a new CT#1 and US#6
Note:
This is a series that will run every week on MileSplit. We will be naming our COROS Distance Athlete Of The Week each week as we finish out the indoor and season and move into outdoor.
Related Links:
The COROS Distance Athlete Of The Week
