(Photos courtesy of Emerging Elite)
It’s not like it’s a surprise.
Ellie Shea has done it again.
The Belmont resident and Emerging Elite junior beat a loaded field at the Brooks PR Invitational on Wednesday night in Seattle, clocking a nation No. 1 and state record of 9 minutes, 53.35 seconds. Finishing second was Maryland’s Leah Stephens at 9:54.34 As she often does, Shea took command from the opening gun and never relinquished the lead. She ran negative splits, covering her final mile in 4:53 and the last 400 meters in 69.43. Shea’s winning time breaks her old record of 9:56.11 from the Nike Outdoor Nationals in Eugene, Oregon in 2022.
Shea and her coaches have decided to skip the national high school championship meets that are now taking place. She is prepping for the USATF U20 Outdoor Championships in Oregon, to be held July 6-9 inside historic Hayward Field. Before heading to the U20s, Shea will race at the Montreal Athletics Classic on June 25 where she will be competing in the 1,500m. She owns a best in that event of 4:14.24, which she did last weekend at the Adrian Martinez Classic against a field of professionals and top collegians in the featured High Performance race.
Newton South’s Amelia Everett was eighth overall in the 800m where she was timed in 2:09.03. Everett will remain on the west coast where she’ll compete at the Nike Outdoor Nationals. She’s entered in the 800m, mile and 1,600m Sprint Medley Relay with teammates Ellie Jolly, Emily Frawley and Christine Zong. The Stanford-bound senior was a bronze medalist in the 800m at last year’s meet where she ran her current PR of 2:06.19.
