Throughout her career, Amelia Everett has competed in a number of races where she matched up against some of the best runners in the region, and often beyond.
This one should rank right up there with the rest.
Under the lights at Marshfield High on Friday night, the Newton South senior will be looking to add another signature win to her already-impressive resume when she answers the gun for the girls’ race of the inaugural BSR Elite Scholastic Mile, sponsored by HOKA and Marathon Sports.
With a 4:49.31 best from last June’s Meet of Champions, the Stanford-bound Everett is the pre-race favorite to take individual honors this weekend, but it certainly won’t be easy against the level of talent she’ll face. How talented is the field? Let’s just say they might not need electricity for the lights at Marshfield. This field might generate enough electricity to illuminate the track all by themselves. Of the 13 runners scheduled to compete, five have broken five minutes and a few more on the cusp to doing the same. Among the sub-5 crew are Winsor (MA) School’s Meg Madison (4:54.49), Wellesley’s Lily Jin (4:56.05), Brookline’s Camille Jordan (4:57.23) and Hamilton-Wenham’s Abby Beville (4:58.29).
Save for her individual win at the BAA Invitational Mile during Boston Marathon weekend, Friday’s race will essentially be Everett’s first competitive all-out mile of the spring season. This past weekend, the gifted senior anchored her team’s winning Sprint Medley at the Division 1 State Relays with a 2:10 split for the 800m. Everett is coming off another successful indoor campaign where she won the 1,000m at the Meet of Champions and grabbed All-American honors for the 800m at the New Balance Nationals in mid March where she ran an indoor best of 2:08.50. She raced to an indoor best of 4:56.42 for the mile at NBN, an event she ran shortly after taking her bronze in the 800m.
Everett is the type of runner that can adjust her race plan on any given minute. If tactical, she’s smart enough to put herself in position to have the best chance to win in the end. If it’s fast from the start, which we’re predicting, she’s not afraid to battle up front or lead if that’s what the race warrants.
Madison, a junior, ran her PR at Boston University’s Last Chance Indoor National Qualifier on Feb. 26. She also dipped under five minutes at NBN, where she was timed in 4:55.57. Jin, another junior, also broke five twice this winter with her best at the Last Chance Qualifier and a 4:57.31 effort at the BU John Thomas Terrier Classic on Jan. 28.
Jordan, who won the mile at the Meet of Champions this winter with her current best, proved she’s ready to challenge with the leaders this past weekend. At the recent Division 1 State Relays, the Brookline senior split 3:36.8 for her 1,200m leg on the Warriors’ winning DMR squad. That’s a pace that equates to sub 4:50 if she continued for the next 400m. With the field that’s assembled here, it’s not unrealistic to think that she could do that on Friday night. Beville clocked her PR at BU’s Valentine Invitational. The talented senior also went under five minutes at NBN where she was timed in 4:59.85.
Lexington’s Ava Criniti, who beat Everett at the Division 1A cross-country championships this fall, is another runner that can’t be ignored. The Minutemen senior was the two-mile winner at the Meet Of Champions this winter and ran her all-time best to capture the Middlesex League Championships on Feb. 6. You know she’ll have sub-5 on her mind.
The remainder of the field includes the Wellesley sister duo of Charlotte (5:02.67) and Emma (5:08.81) Tuxbury, Phillips Exeter (NH) Academy’s Tenley Nelson (5:02.56), Brookline’s Jordan Liss-Riordan (5:03.84), Plymouth North’s Macey Shriner (5:03.45). and Marshfield’s Eleanor Angeles-Whitfield (5:08.67), and Ava Lovuolo (5:08.02).
The girls’ race kicks off the night at 7:15. The boys’ race is slated for 7:30. The event will be live streamed by our State Running team.
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Of note, Jin, Charlotte Tuxbury and Shriner, who also train together for Emerging Elites, were recently named to the USATF Mountain Running Team – Jin for the U20 squad and Tuxbury and Shriner for U18s. The team of four U18 boys and girls will compete at the International U18 Mountain Running Cup in Annecy, France on May 27. The race is 4.6km with 230 meters (754 ft) of elevation gain and descent.
