Athlete: Chelsea Ogindo
Year: Sophomore
School: First Boston Marathon? Here‘s What to Know
Location: Peekskill, NY
800m PR: 2:16.711
1500m PR: 4:45.10
Competing on two track teams at the same time, 15-year-old New Yorker Chelsea Ogindo has become one of the up-and-coming stars of the young indoor season. After placing third in the Bishop Loughlin Games 1,000m on Dec. 21, Ogindo won the prestigious Colgate Women’s Games high school division 1500m on Dec. 28 and then welcomed the New Year with a fourth in the Hispanic Games 800m on Jan. 4. Ogindo achieved PRs in two of the three events, all held at the New York Armory, and in the past year has excelled at every distance from the 200 to 5K cross country.
Two Teams: Ogindo is a sophomore at Peekskill High in northern Westchester County, about an hour’s drive from New York City. She competes for her high school team as well as for the Westchester Striders, an age-group track club based in Peekskill. She does daily practices with both squads year round and represents the Striders in open events like Colgate and the Junior Olympics.
Two Countries: Ogindo, who has lived in Peekskill all her life, is Kenyan. Both her parents were born and raised in Kenya and married there. The couple moved to New York in the 1990s. Ogindo has made two visits to Kenya to see her parents’ birthplace and spend time with relatives. While she does not keep abreast of the Kenyan runners’ world-class exploits, Ogindo does devour the well-known source of Kenyan nourishment: ugali, a corn meal dish with meat and vegetables. Does Ogindo trace of any of her running success to her Kenyan heritage? “As clichéd as it sounds,” she said, “yes.”
Two Practices: Ogindo needs that ugali to sustain her ambitious schedule. This winter, she has been practicing with her Peekskill High team on school grounds from 3 to 4 p.m. Then, from 6 to 7:30, she works out indoors with the Striders, doing hallway loops at an elementary school. Ogindo, who began running with the Striders at age 10, tries not to duplicate workouts on a given day. If she does distance at the high school, she’ll do a shorter and faster practice indoors, and vice versa. She enjoys the feeling of speed and does not venture longer than 5 miles on a distance run.
Colgate Success: After placing third in the Colgate Games intermediate school 400m in eighth grade and third in the high school division 800m in ninth grade, Ogindo dominated the high school 1500m last month, running 4:46.3 in the finals to triumph by 15 seconds. In an earlier qualifying round, she ran her PR of 4:45.10. Ogindo has accumulated several 1500m performances in the mid-4:40s, indoors and outdoors, equivalent to about a 5:05 mile. Ogindo hopes to break 5:00 at some point this year. Her winter goal is to qualify for the New York State indoor meet, probably in the 1,000m. (Last month, Ogindo’s Loughlin 1,000 time was 3:02.76; last winter Ogindo split 2:59.19 on the leadoff leg of a state meet relay.)
Scholarship Winnings: For her Colgate victory, Ogindo was awarded a $1,000 scholarship for future college use. She also was awarded $250 for each of her previous thirds, so her scholarship total stands at $1,500 with two more years of Colgate competition to go. If Ogindo, who turns 16 in February, continues her running ascent, she should have plenty of scholarship options down the road. She is an excellent student with a 94 percent academic average.
Future Strength: “Chelsea will concentrate on the 1,000 indoors and 800 outdoors,” said Peekskill coach Paul Piliero. “When she gets a little stronger she’ll be more of a 1500 runner. Chelsea is totally coachable and never misses practice.”
National Meets: Last August, at the USA Track & Field National Junior Olympics in Greensboro, N.C., Ogindo placed third in the 1500 in her age group. In the fall of 2012, she placed sixth in her age group at the AAU Junior Olympic 4K cross country in Rock Hill, S.C. In both events, she competed for the Striders, coached by Ted Bitter. Last fall in high school cross country, Ogindo ran a 5K PR of 18:42.
Racing Style: Ogindo started running because she could outrace friends, and she took the thrill of a big finish into high school. “I used to like to sit back and kick,” she said. “But I like going out harder now. I’ve realized that getting out fast helps my times.” At Colgate, Ogindo led from the gun and defeated a field of young stars from four states and all sectors of New York City.
Hispanic 800: On January 4, the Hispanic Games ran ahead of schedule and Ogindo arrived at the Armory minutes before her race. “I was not warmed up and a nervous wreck,” she said. Still, Ogindo was pleased with taking fourth in her first 800m of the season and running 2:17.35, less than a second off her personal best.
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.
