Athlete: Caroline Alcorta
Year: Senior
School: How to Run Twice a Day Without Injury
Location: Springfield, VA
800m PR: 2:09.3 (relay)
Mile PR: 4:46.06
2-Mile PR: 10:19.68
While the world-class teenagers Ajee’ Wilson, Mary Cain and Alexa Efraimson were capturing the spotlight in the Millrose Games professional middle-distance races last Saturday, it was Caroline Alcorta of Virginia who came away with a meet record in the high school girls invitational mile. Alcorta, a senior at West Springfield High in Virginia, sped to a scintillating 4:46.06 performance at the New York Armory.
Teen Angels: NBC and other major media covered Wilson’s 800m victory and Cain’s mile triumph—as well as the boys’ high school mile—while the girls’ mile, moved to the end of the program for the first time, seemed to be an afterthought. That is, until Alcorta lit up the 200-meter track with her courageous, front-running style and brilliant victory. Alcorta was the event’s first winner from Virginia, and her time was the nation’s fastest of the season in a high school race. (Efraimson ran 4:32.15 for sixth in the pro field.)
Deep Field: The 2014 girls’ mile was the strongest in the event’s 30-year history. For the first time at Millrose, four girls broke 4:50 and 10 broke 5 minutes, another indication of high school girls’ growing prowess. Alcorta’s time eclipsed the previous meet record of 4:46.19 set in 2012 by Samantha Nadel of Long Island, now a Georgetown sophomore. (Nadel, redshirting the indoor season, was on hand at Millrose to see her record broken.)
Virginia Ham: With most of the Armory crowd filing out into the snowy streets of upper Manhattan after Alcorta’s race, one fellow Virginian who’d competed earlier in the men’s Wanamaker Mile made a point of congratulating her. In a poignant gesture, Alan Webb, the former high school 3:53 miler hanging up his spikes as a professional, heralded Alcorta as sweat poured off her and she tried to catch her breath. Alcorta was so spent she could not muster the strength to open her water bottle. As Webb departed, Alcorta said, “This means so much. All the great names from Virginia, I didn’t want to let them down.”
Race Sharp: With her victorious 4:49.71 mile, then a three-second PR, at the Virginia Tech Invitational on Feb. 2, and her 2:09.3 anchor leg, another three-second PR, in the high school 4 x 800m relay at the Armory’s Collegiate Invitational on Feb. 9, Alcorta came into Millrose brimming with confidence. But she set modest goals, hoping to finish in the top 3 and run another sub-4:50. Chris Pellegrini, Alcorta’s coach at West Springfield, tried to lift her aspirations. Taking the measure of her 2:09 800m, he told Alcorta, “You better not get outkicked by anyone.”
Taking Charge: then run the mile or 2-mile on the 16, Tessa Barrett of Pennsylvania, the 2013 Foot Locker national cross country champion, surged to the front, leading the 13-runner field through the first quarter in a snappy 70.2. That was perfect for Alcorta, whose plan was to run 35 seconds per lap “and see how long I could hold it.” On the next 200, Alcorta moved into first, followed closely by another Pennsylvanian, Kennedy Weisner, the 2013 Eastern States cross country champion. With Alcorta standing 5 feet tall and Weisner at 5-foot-8, the pair made for quite a tandem as they circled the Armory track. After Alcorta hit 2:22.6 for the half-mile, she pressed harder, gapping Weisner and reaching three-quarters in 3:33.3. Losing a little steam with no one to push her, Alcorta closed in 72.8 for a 15-meter triumph over Weisner (4:48.16), as Barrett took third (4:49.17). The first five finishers set indoor PRs.
Winter Workouts: Amid the incessant snow and cold, Alcorta did most of her recent training on a treadmill. She said she was able to squeeze in a couple of 300s outdoors, but that was it, no workouts at all last week.
Watchful Waiting: Before it was her turn to race, Alcorta, who will do her college running at North Carolina, watched the women’s professional mile featuring Cain and Efraimson. “I have to say, it made me feel inferior,” she said. “I mean they’re my age and they can run with the pros and Olympians. But it gives me something to look up to.”
Big Breakthroughs: Alcorta, 17, has now improved her mile by about 10 seconds in the past year. A 4:50 mile was on her high school bucket list until recently. Now, said Alcorta, it’s 4:40.
Nationals Showdown: Alcorta could get a shot at 4:40 in the high school indoor nationals, back at the Armory, March 14-16. She’ll anchor West Springfield’s distance medley relay (national outdoor winners last June) on the 14th, Everything You Need to Know About Hip Painth. If Alcorta chooses the mile, she’ll be in a race that could prove historic: defender Elise Cranny of Colorado taking on Efraimson, coming back to New York from Washington state.
Rest Day: After her race and cool-down outside the Armory, Alcorta rejoined her coach and parents for the long drive back to Virginia. Asked how she would celebrate on Sunday, Alcorta didn’t miss a beat when she said, “Sleep.”
High School Athlete of the Week spring 2014 High School Athletes of the Week.
Marc Bloom’s high school cross-country rankings have played an influential role in the sport for more than 20 years and led to the creation of many major events, including Nike Cross Nationals and the Great American Cross Country Festival. He published his cross-country journal, Harrier, for more than two decades.
