Abbey D watch out - Texas' Marielle Hall wins Stanford 5k in 15:19 over Alisha Williams!!!

Looks like she's west african descent. Strange since they usually are more sprinters than distance runners.

for college, 20 girls under 16! pretty sweet...15:30s is the NEW 16!

i watched this race live last night in palo alto. it was a great race. i'd barely heard of Hall before yesterday so didn't expect her to hang on so long, much less win.

i meant to take splits of this race, but i got back from eating dinner too late and missed the start.

rojo wrote:

what??? wrote:

She PR'd by 63 seconds?? What in the WORLD??

Yep. Her pb was 16:22.83 before tonight.

Indoors, she didn't even make NCAAs as she ran just 9:15.57 for 3k. That's 3:05 per k. Tonight, she was < 3:04 per k for an extra 2k.

Pretty crazy.

Very exciting and impressive. Full-blooded American reaching heights of distance running excellence! (no offense, Kenyan collegiates) From her roster page, her old distance running credentials did not seem extraordinary, although some of her middle distance stuff seems promising, taken in conjunction with this newest low 15 performance, and seeing as she probably may be not insignificantly faster across the board for middle distance now as well.

What I meant to say, and should say candidly, is that, since culture seems to confine black American runners--even those of mixed genetics--to shorter distances, I find this exciting, refreshing and motivating for Americans from all walks of life, towards believing they can make breakthroughs.

I guess we should have seen this coming, whenever a middle distance runner has a great XC season, its always followed by a big improvement on the track. Btw, Marielle has been good for a long time, she was one of the top kids a FLNC her senior years in H.S. and ran some great MD times in H.S. as well. Halls problems in my opinion has always been not having the base to finish out a season strong and not foucing in on 1 or 2 events. I think Marielle has a 2:03 800 PR (this might be a relay split) and I think she has run a 10K and everything in between. Also, Texas was trying to build a distance squad when Marielle decided to there; that never materialized and I'm not sure what she has had for training partners. It should be interesting to see how she does in the mile this year. And, btw for those inquiring, Marielle is a regular Black girl.

Same high school as Erin Donohue. Haddonfield

I trained with Marielle last summer (2013). She was an intern of mine in Peru at STRIVE (a running/community service program for high schoolers).

I could tell from training with her that she was a HUGE talent. She talked about not running very much up until that year, where she was training 70-90MPW (and this is at high altitude, ~9000ft). She would do training runs at sub 7'00 pace even at this altitude.

With regards to her big PR - she thought of herself as a Mid-D runner until this year when she had a huge XC season (winning Big 12s and Regionals before losing a top-10 finish at Natties in the last 1km).

Also a really great kid. Very bright and well-spoken. Really wish all the best for her!

Abbey D really ought to watch out, indeed! Love this photo:

http://www.runnerspace.com/members/images/2572/208768_full.jpg

Marielle ran 2:07.33 as a HS junior for 3rd at the NJ state meet and was 4th in 2:08.84 as a senior behind sophomore winner Ajee Wilson in 2:04.94.

Lol that's too perfect.

Marielle and Ajee had the same coach in high school,they both ran for Juventus track club.

Funny that she ran club, considering she would've been on the same team as another future elite - Greta Feldman, 2:03/4:11(?) - at Haddonfield.

Racist much?

OnPoint wrote:

Also a really great kid. Very bright and well-spoken. Really wish all the best for her!

Um?

No?

Just saying I've worked with tons of HS and college runners and she sticks out as above average!

Fool! Go away!

SBoulderCreek wrote:

Did Laura Thweatt just double back from a 4:15 heat win earlier in the evening in the 1500 with a 15:23? Big season ahead!

She's not a thweatt.

Colonial Conf wrote:

Funny that she ran club, considering she would've been on the same team as another future elite - Greta Feldman, 2:03/4:11(?) - at Haddonfield.

they were on the same team. Haddonfield's a powerhouse, both boys and girls, in terms of producing talent that endures post-collegiately.

NJ fan wrote:

Marielle ran 2:07.33 as a HS junior for 3rd at the NJ state meet and was 4th in 2:08.84 as a senior behind sophomore winner Ajee Wilson in 2:04.94.

Was about to point this out.

Hall doing this doesn't come as a huge surprise for those who pay attention.

She comes from a mixed racial background and has fantastic genetics. She struggled with injury early in her career at Texas, but it's not a surprise that this type of genetic talent has now developed the ability to handle the miles and big performances will now be the norm provided she can stay healthy.

She is the real deal.