After her victory in the two mile at the Brooks PR Invitational, Ellie Shea skipped the New Balance Nationals a few days later to focus on her next two endeavors – dual competitions in the Toyota USATF Outdoor Championships and the USATF U20 Championships at Oregon’s Hayward Field.
The extra training appeared to payoff this weekend
Not that we ever thought it wouldn’t.
The Belmont native made the best of her time at the championship meets by making two USA squads. Competing against a mostly professional field at the USATF Outdoor Championships, clocked a time of 4 minutes, 20.11 seconds. With that effort, she qualified for the NACAC U23 Championships in San Jose, Costa Rica. On Sunday, the Emerging Elite runner demonstrated just how special her talent is whenever she steps foot on a track. In a span of just 67 minutes, Shea earned two gold medals. She broke the tape in the 1,500m with a 4:19.58 clocking and followed that performance by winning it all in the 3K, where she crossed the line in 9:46.56. With her victories, Shea punched her ticket for both events at the Pan Am U20 Championships in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico.
Wellesley’s Lily Jin was ninth in the 3K with a time of 10:15.02.
Also heading to the Pan Am U20s next month is Northbridge’s Marcus Reilly. After advancing to the finals of the 1,500m on Friday with a time of 3:51.51, Reilly secured his spot at Sunday’s finals where he was fourth overall with a nearly identical time of 3:51.10. Brian Gamble of Brimmer & May and Emerging Elite was tenth in the race with a solid time of 3:54.71.
