Women’s Recap: Teens Mary Cain And Ajee Wilson Win As Does Kim Conley
by LetsRun.com
February 15, 2014
In the women’s mid-d and distance events at the 2014 NYRR Millrose Games, teen phenoms Mary Cain and Ajee’ Wilson got wins in the mile and 800 and Kim Conley won the women’s 3,000.
NYRR Women’s Wanamaker Mile (Elite): Mary Cain Gets The Win
New Yorker Mary Cain gave the New York fans what they wanted – a victory for the teen sensation in 4:27.73 in a somewhat tactical women’s mile.
The field showed no interest in going with the rabbit early in this one as the field his the half mile in roughly 2:19. Things really didn’t get going until 400 remained, when Cain and teammate Treniere Moser, running side-by-side, picked up the pace and whipped off a 30.95 penultimate lap. Three or four women were still within contention entering the bell but no one could match Cain over the last 200 as her 29.7 last 200 was more than a second better than everyone else.
Nike Cross Nationals champ Alexa Efraimson, who beat Cain’s 3,000 high school record earlier this winter, competed very well here. She finished between 2013 NCAA mile champion Emma Coburn and 2011 world #1 Morgan Uceny in sixth in 4:32.15 – a new PR (which is also better than her 4:16.00 1,500 PR equivalent).
We caught up with Efraimson after the race. Her interview is below. She said she didn’t really interact with Cain here and while in the back of her mind, she was hoping to beat Cain’s junior class record of 4:28.25 from last year, her main goal was just to compete, which she did.
| PL | Athlete | Team | Final |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cain, Mary | Nike Oregon Project | 4:27.73 |
| 2 | Moser, Treniere | Nike Oregon Project | 4:28.86 |
| 3 | Sifuentes, Nicole | Saucony | 4:28.97 |
| 4 | Brown, Sarah | New Balance | 4:30.13 |
| 5 | Coburn, Emma | New Balance | 4:32.01 |
| 6 | Efraimson, Alexa | United States of America | 4:32.15 |
| 7 | Uceny, Morgan | Adidas | 4:32.23 |
| 8 | Lipari, Emily | Villanova University | 4:35.24 |
| 9 | Winslow, Amanda | Oiselle/NJ-NY TC | 4:35.58 |
| 10 | Penney, Lauren | Oiselle/NJ-NY TC | 4:35.71 |
| 11 | Schneider, Rachel | Unattached | 4:36.42 |
| 12 | McGee, Cory | University of Florida | 4:37.32 |
| Kampf, Heather | Asics | DNF |
Alexa Efraimson
Women’s 3,000 Meters: Kim Conley Breaks Field Early And Holds On But Doesn’t Run As Fast As She’d Like
Kim Conley‘s fine 2014 season continued as she picked up her third victory this season in 8:48.35. Aggressive from the start, Conley ran right on the heels of the rabbit from the get-go and had gapped the field some 600 meters into the race.
Conley’s opening 1,600 was 4:37 and the chase pack of Abbey D’Agostino, Betsy Saina and Italian 1k record holder Margherita Magniani was roughly three seconds back 4:40. Conley started to fade a bit at the end but she had too big of a lead. Saina ended up winning the battle for second over D’Agostino, who got nipped at the line and ended up fourth but in a new personal best and collegiate-leading time of 8:51.91 (previous PR of 8:55.41).
Quick Take #1: Our post race interview with Conley is on the right.
While happy to have won a prestigious Millrose title, Conley admitted afterwards she was hoping to run about 10 seconds faster. She also said her goal for indoors was to PR and win every race. Tonight’s 8:48.35 wasn’t a lifetime best as her outdoor PR is 8:47.35. Her first race of the year, a 2:05.92 PR (previous PR 2:07.23) wasn’t a victory. So not a perfect indoor season for Conley but a very good one. She thinks having a lower mile PR will help her crack 15:00 come outdoors.
Quick Take #2: Despite running a collegiate leader, D’Agostino, like Conley, was far from being fully satisfied. She said the plan was to run with the leaders throughout and yet she found herself gapped just three laps into the race.
Results
| PL | Athlete | Team | Final |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Conley, Kim | New Balance | 8:48.35 |
| 2 | Saina, Betsy | Nike | 8:50.60 |
| 3 | Magnani, Margherita | Fiamme Gialle | 8:51.81 |
| 4 | D’Agostino, Abbey | Dartmouth College | 8:51.91 |
| 5 | Grunewald, Gabe | Brooks Beasts | 8:53.87 |
| 6 | Van Dalen, Lucy | New Balance | 8:53.95 |
| 7 | Avery, Kate | Iona College | 8:56.20 |
| 8 | Schappert, Nicole | Hoka/NYAC | 9:00.84 |
| 9 | Felnagle, Brie | Adidas | 9:01.57 |
| 10 | Areson, Jackie | Adelphi | 9:11.44 |
| 11 | Hall, Sara | Asics | 9:12.26 |
| 12 | Van Buskirk, Kate | Canada | 9:12.57 |
| 13 | Vaughn, Sara | Brooks Beasts | 9:17.96 |
| Gregson, Heidi | Furman Elite | DNF |
Women’s 800: Ajee Wilson Wins Battle Of Teens
In the battle of teen phenoms against last year’s NCAA champ, the 2012 world junior champion Ajee’ Wilson of the US (age 19) got a narrow victory over Canada’s 19-year-old Jenna Westaway in a new indoor PR of 2:01.81 (previous best 2:02.64).
The 2013 NCAA champion both indoors and out, Natoya Goule, was third in 2:02.22 as the girl LRC has labeled Iceland’s Mary Cain, 2013 World Youth champion Anita Hindriksdottir, who just turned 18 last month, was fourth in 2:02.66 after making a move to the lead at 400.
Splits: 29.2, 69.5, 1:31.1
Quick Thought #1: A nice win for Wilson, who was last in the 1k last week in Boston. She’s clearly much more comfortable at 800 than 1k right now.
Quick Thought #2: Way too big of a move mid-race for Hindriksdottir.
Quick Thought #3: There was horrible rabbitting in this 800. If you watch the video here you will see the pacer, Diana Cruz, never leads a step of the race and then makes most of the field sidestep her as she slows down before the 400. So was this a botched rabbitting job or did one of the organizers screw up? We ask because looking for results for Diana Cruz online, there isn’t much info. By our research (via tilastopaja.net and Google) she’s an 18-year old 400 runner with a PR around 58-seconds. Hardly someone capable of being comfortable pacing an even 60-second quarter.
| PL | Athlete | Team | Final |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wilson, Ajee’ | Adidas | 2:01.81 |
| 2 | Westaway, Jenna | Calgary International TC | 2:01.89 |
| 3 | Goule, Natoya | Jamaica | 2:02.22 |
| 4 | Hindriksdottir, Anita | IR Sports Club | 2:02.66 |
| 5 | Lipsey, Charlene | Adidas | 2:03.80 |
| 6 | Eccleston, Amanda | United States of America | 2:04.40 |
| Cruz, Diana | CPTC New Balance | DNF |