Fast Women: Allie Wilson earns her first national title
Nikki Hiltz, Elle St. Pierre also win at USATF Indoors.
Issue 279, sponsored by SOAR Running
Taking a risk pays off for Allie Wilson
The 800m at USATF Indoors provided plenty of drama. In Friday’s prelims, defending champ Nia Akins lost a shoe, but she still won her heat and advanced to the final. Sadi Henderson ran her best race of the season and appeared to advance to the final, only to learn that she had been disqualified for a lane violation. And in Saturday’s final, it looked like new pro Addy Wiley, 20, might run away with the race, until Allie Wilson edged past her in the final strides. Wilson ran 2:00.63 to earn her first national title, and Wiley finished 0.07 seconds back.
After the race, Wilson gave an emotional interview and touched on why the victory meant so much to her. When the Atlanta Track Club announced they were parting ways with coaches Amy and Andrew Begley last June, the athletes on the team had two options. They could remain in Atlanta, keep their contracts, and work with the team’s new coach (who was later announced as Tom Nohilly), or they could look for other options. Wilson felt a strong pull to stay with her coaches, so she followed them to Indianapolis, where Amy took a job with USATF and Andrew began work on launching a new pro team.
Because Wilson’s sponsorship deal was with the Atlanta Track Club, not Adidas directly, that meant giving up her contract. She has been running unsponsored ever since and, she said after the race, she has recently been working as a nanny to help make ends meet. The newly-formed Heartland Track Club currently has three members: Wilson, Emma Grace Hurley (who recently finished second at the USATF Cross Country Championships and made her first world championships team), and Great Britain’s Gemma Finch.
The top two finishers in each event earned the opportunity to represent the U.S. at the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Glasgow, Scotland, beginning March 1. This will be Wilson’s first time representing the U.S. at Worlds, and Wiley’s first time doing so at the senior level. Wilson earned $6,000 for the win and Wiley earned $4,000.
With 150m to go, Akins was in last place. She made up ground over the last 100m, but her move was too late. She finished third in 2:00.90. Prior to the race, the Brooks Beasts posted a video in which Akins said her foot was surprisingly okay after she ran more than two laps of the track with only a sock on her left foot.
But based on what Akins posted after the race, it sounds like the missing shoe wasn’t the biggest challenge she faced last week. (Make sure to swipe to the second image to listen to the song she wrote about it.) “In a week, we went from the ER, to qualifying for the finals with one shoe, to third at USAs. Amen!” she wrote. “I’m confusingly happy, obviously a little sad, yet proud and firm in my hope for better days.”
Nikki Hiltz continues their winning streak
One year ago at the USATF Indoor Championships, Nikki Hiltz earned their first national title on the track, with a win in the 1500m, and since then, they’ve just kept winning. They pulled off a dramatic 1500m win outdoors, outrunning some fantastic competitors, and on Saturday afternoon in Albuquerque, Hiltz repeated as indoor 1500m champion, holding off Emily Mackay, 4:08.35 to 4:08.70.
Hiltz said after the race that they expected a slower, more tactical race, but Gabbi Jennings kept the pace moving pretty well in the middle of the race. Hiltz made their move with about 250m to go, and though Mackay did an admirable job of staying with them, Hiltz was able to hold her off. Anna Camp Bennett of Taylor Made Elite grabbed the final podium spot, finishing in 4:10.20.
This was a particularly big moment for Mackay, who qualified for her first World team, and held her own against Hiltz.
The 1500m started only 26 minutes after the 800m, making the double difficult, but Addy Wiley attempted it anyway. After taking second in the 800m, she ran about half of the 1500m before calling it a day and dropping out. She explained the decision afterward, saying that if nothing else, trying the 1500m was a good workout. Wiley trains at sea level and said, “This was my altitude camp this week.” (Albuquerque is roughly 5,100 feet above sea level.)
Mackay’s New Balance Boston teammate Elle St. Pierre, who won the previous day’s 3,000m, was also entered in the 1500m, but that appears to have been a backup plan. She didn’t start the race. If there’s an athlete who is going to challenge Hiltz’s 1500m reign, St. Pierre, who set an American indoor mile record last week, is the current frontrunner. But because they didn’t race here, we’ll have to wait until the outdoor season to see that matchup.
Thanks to SOAR Running for supporting Fast Women this month
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Elle St. Pierre wins her first national title since becoming a mom
It was apparent that St. Pierre’s postpartum return was going well when she ran 4:23.3 at the Fifth Avenue Mile in September, six months after giving birth. But in her return to the track two weeks ago, she made it clear that her fitness is better than ever.
Exactly 11 months after having her son, Ivan, St. Pierre finished a close second to Australia’s Jess Hull in the 3,000m at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix, running 8:25.25. It was a personal best by 11 seconds, and only 0.20 seconds off the American record. One week later, St. Pierre broke her own American record to win the Wanamaker Mile at the Millrose Games in 4:16.41.
And only five days after that, on Friday night, she won the 3,000m at the USATF Indoors, running 8:54.40. Given her recent racing, the outcome was not surprising.
Early on, no one wanted to lead the race. Roughly 300 meters in, the field nearly came to a stop, and the athletes were practically tripping over each other as they jogged. By 400 meters, Rachel Smith took the lead, and while they were still running at a leisurely pace for them, at least they were running. St. Pierre had the patience to stick with the pack for the first 800 meters, but then she opened up her stride, moved to the front, and gradually began to gap the field.
Until she kicked, St. Pierre never opened a big lead—it was always less than four seconds, nothing that couldn’t be made up in a kick. But St. Pierre was the one who ended up having the best kick. She ran her last four laps in 34.83, 33.78, and 31.07 seconds and won by 8.7 seconds.
Josette Andrews, of the On Athletics Club, finished second in 9:03.10, and NAZ Elite’s Katie Wasserman took third in 9:06.99. And Smith took fourth, running 9:10.21, 10 months after having her daughter, Nova.
St. Pierre, who turns 29 tomorrow, doesn’t spend as much time at altitude as many of her competitors do, but she trained in Flagstaff for most of the winter, and she seemed unbothered Albuquerque’s altitude.
After the race, she speculated that not racing much in her return benefitted her, as she was able to put together a long block of consistent training. St. Pierre now hopes to contend for another medal at Worlds. In 2022, she earned silver in the 3,000m, behind Ethiopia’s Lemlem Hailu.
Theoretically the top two finishers represent the U.S. at Worlds, but this was Andrews’ first 3,000m of the season and she doesn’t have the auto qualifying standard (8:37.00). After the race, she said she’s hoping the 14:46.51 5,000m she ran a few weeks earlier will boost her world ranking enough for her to get into the meet. And this was a great run for Wasserman, who made it onto her first podium at a U.S. championship, after finishing last in this event one year earlier. (USATF Indoors results | Highlights from other events: day one, day two)
Why to pay attention to the NCAA
Some of the most exciting competition in the U.S. right now is happening in the college ranks. The NCAA’s team component is unrivaled, and while quite a few pros skip indoors or run just a couple of races, especially because it’s an Olympic year, collegiate teams go all in during the indoor season.
Most major conference meets will take place next weekend, and the NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships are March 8–9 in Boston, so this past weekend has unofficially become the weekend that many teams try to run a quick distance medley relay (with legs of 1200m, 400m, 800m, and 1600m), to secure their spots at NCAAs. The most exciting DMR of the weekend was on Friday night, at Boston University.
The University of Washington squad of Chloe Foerster, Anna Terrell, Marlena Preigh, and Carley Thomas broke their own collegiate record, running 10:43.49. They did that with their 4:02 1500m runner, Sophie O’Sullivan, cheering them on, not even in the race. (She ran a 4:33.30 mile earlier in the meet.) Providence (10:44.07) and BYU (10:44.67) also dipped under the previous record. Stanford’s Roisin Willis had the fastest 800m leg, with a 2:00.92 split, and Providence’s Kimberley May had the fastest 1600m leg, with a 4:25.84 split. (Results)
And not to be outdone, on Saturday, Notre Dame ran 10:44.62 at the Alex Wilson Invitational on their home track. Olivia Markezich split an eye-opening 4:22.31 on the 1600m anchor leg. That converts to a 4:23.83 mile, which is faster than the collegiate record. Yes, she got a running start, and yes it was on an oversized track, but she also ran mostly solo. (Results)
I love how many teams are going all in on the DMR. The most important showdown, at NCAAs, is going to be fantastic.
Also at the BU meet, Harvard first year Sophia Gorriaran improved her season’s best in the 800m, from 2:04.06 to 2:01.68, which will earn her a spot at the NCAA meet.
Other News and Links
While many pro runners were putting in some quality fall training, Elly Henes was recovering from surgery to repair a collapsed lung. She shared more of the story in an Instagram post, and she also talked about it after her first race back, just over a week ago.
It’s getting harder to have an immediate impact in track/running media, but in just a few weeks, TRACK: All-Access is already making a splash. At first it looked like the YouTube channel, launched by Gordon Mack, formerly of FloTrack, was going to be male-heavy, but he’s now added videos featuring Elle St. Pierre, the BYU women (both a workout and a time trial), and Harvard’s Maia Ramsden. My favorite kind of YouTube content tends not to be athletes running lap after lap of their workouts, but the St. Pierre and BYU videos, especially, are interspersed with enough commentary from the coaches that they kept my attention. It was interesting to watch St. Pierre’s New Balance Boston teammate Emily Mackay hang with her for six out of their seven 1K reps. And it was nice to see St. Pierre’s teammates tag-team pace her through the final rep. I enjoyed getting a look at the organized chaos and intensity of the BYU workouts, which also prove you don’t need the NCAA’s best facility to compete with the best. At one point (in the workout video), we see BYU coach Diljeet Taylor having to duck as she runs through one of the corridors that cuts across BYU’s indoor facility, so she doesn’t hit her head. Most of all, I like that the videos show how unglamorous putting in the work often is, even for the best athletes. It’s refreshing to see the Harvard team tempoing through some of some of the spots on campus that you almost certainly wouldn’t see on the campus tour, on a gray Boston day (though their indoor facility is quite nice).
Additional Results
One year after setting an indoor 400m world record at the Dutch championships, Femke Bol did it again. She ran 49.24 seconds and shaved 0.02 seconds off her record. (Video)
Sam Bush (NC State), Phoebe Anderson (Columbia), and Grace Hartman (NC State) ran 15:32.67, 15:33.96, and 15:37.04, respectively, at the JDL Last Chance Invitational, in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Because the race was held on a flat track, as opposed to a banked one, their times get converted to slightly faster times, and their performances will almost certainly qualify them for the NCAA championships. Getting into NCAAs has become so tough that some very, very good athletes won’t make the cut. (Results | Finish clip)
Jemma Reekie set a championship record of 1:58.24 at the UK indoor championships on Sunday in Birmingham. Laura Muir won the 3,000m in 8:58.80, which probably felt like a workout to her. And Georgia Bell won the 1500m in 4:09.66. (Results)
Australia’s Claudia Hollingsworth, 18, won the 800m at the Maurie Plant Meet in Melbourne, running a personal best and Australia U20 record of 1:59.81 (video). In the 5,000m, training partners Rose Davies and Izzi Batt-Doyle, both of Australia, broke 15:00 for the first time, running 14:57.54 and 14:59.18, respectively. (Results)
Great Britain’s Clare Elms, 60, has been on a record tear recently. At Wednesday’s Lee Valley Middle Distance Open, Elms ran 5:05.44 for 1500m and set a pending world indoor 60–64 age-group record. The record was previously held by Sue McDonald of the U.S., and McDonald was quick to congratulate her. One week earlier, Elms set a pending age-group world record of 5:30.89 in the indoor mile. And several days before that, she ran a British road mile record of 5:33. Possibly more impressive, Elms is the mother of triplets.
Texas sophomore Elizabeth Leachman ran a 3200m PR of 9:43.74 last week, which means she broke her own high school record. In another low-key meet, she shaved 1.83 seconds off the record she set two weeks earlier.
Ashley Paulson won the USATF 100 Mile Road Championships, hosted by the Jackpot Ultras, in Henderson, Nevada, in 14:04:40. (Results)
Podcast Highlights
It was great to hear from Makenna Myler on the Ali on the Run Show after her seventh-place finish at the Olympic Marathon Trials. Myler told the story of Laura Paulsen sharing her breast pump with her prior to the race. Myler said she went into the Trials with a conservative race plan, but when the gun went off, she was feeling so good, it was hard for her to hold back. And it was interesting to hear her talk about what she has gained from training with Sara Hall.
Speaking of Hall, I enjoyed hearing her process her Trials race on I’ll Have Another. She said she’ll probably give making the Olympic team on the track a shot, even though she has largely moved away from racing on the track. (And that’s why her name is among the entrants for the TEN on March 16, an event where many athletes will go after the Olympic 10,000m standard and/or Trials qualifying times. A whole bunch of Marathon Trials runners are entered as well, including Keira D’Amato and Myler. It’s TBD how many of them will make it to the starting line, probably depending on their recovery and/or other opportunities that come up.)
Emily Sisson has done several post-Trials podcasts, but only on The Run Eat Sleep Show did she discuss her fear of Ubers, the pet grooming shop along the Trials course, and pet sitting her sister-in-law’s snake. And for a conversation that sticks to more traditional topics, Sisson was also on I’ll Have Another.
Even if you’ve already listened to all of the post-Trials podcasts Jess McClain has done, her episode with Carrie Tollefson is an interesting listen, because McClain has some good insights. McClain was also on The Running Effect last week as well.
I really enjoyed Des Linden and Kara Goucher’s (sober) Trials recap on Nobody Asked Us. I appreciated Linden making the point that not enough athletes adjusted their race strategies based on the conditions. “I think because it’s the Trials, people just throw caution to the wind,” she said. That one might seem kind of obvious, but if I were a high-level marathoner, I’d regularly listen to this podcast for Linden’s marathon racing tips.
It was good to hear Roberta Groner talk about her Trials experience on The Rambling Runner Podcast and at the end, she shared that she’s leaving nursing, for now, to become a full-time coach for the Central Park Track Club.
Emma Grace Hurley, one of Allie Wilson’s Heartland Track Club teammates, was on both Women’s Running Stories and More Than Miles last week. I recommend listening to them in that order, because the former provides more background and the latter provides more of an update about what she’s been up to recently.
Race director Tes Sobomehin Marshall was on The Directors, and I loved hearing about some of the work she puts into The Race, an event that celebrates Black-owned businesses, neighborhoods, and charities in Atlanta.
This is an all-male episode, but I really enjoyed hearing Running USA Executive Director Jay Holder talk about his various roles, including being the media director for the Olympic Trials, on DIII Glory Days. Among many other things, he pointed out that a shockingly low number of races collect racial and ethnic demographics from their participants, and he’s working to help change that.
Additional Episodes: Annie Rodenfels on Lactic Acid | Trials qualifier Abbie McNulty on Runners of the Bay | Trials qualifier Meriah Earle on Suite Run | Kimberley May, Providence College’s star miler, on Citius Mag | Masters standout Gina Rouse on Run Farther and Faster | Game Changers founder Vanessa Peralta-Mitchell on Running for Real
Thanks, again, to SOAR Running for sponsoring Fast Women this month. I love how high performance everything they make is. And thank you to all of you who help keep Fast Women going with your support via Venmo and Patreon. This newsletter wouldn’t be possible without you.
Have a great week!
Alison
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