Our weekly recap is up.https://www.letsrun.com/news/2021/12/wtw-it-was-a-good-week-for-keira-damato-conner-mantz-lawrence-cherono-natalie-cook-and-annie-rodenfels-is-sara-vaughn-the-second-coming-of-sara-hall/ In it, we note the similarities between Sara Hall and Sara Vaughn.
LRC wrote:
One of the most surprising performances of the weekend came at the California International Marathon, where 35-year-old Sara Vaughn made a very successful marathon debut, winning the race in a course-record 2:26:53. Only four Americans have debuted faster: Jordan Hasay (2:23:00 at 2017 Boston), Emily Sisson (2:23:08 at 2019 London), Kara Goucher (2:25:53 at 2008 New York), and Annie Frisbie (2:26:18 at 2021 New York).
Of course, we must point out that the CIM course features 344.5 feet of elevation loss (105 meters), which is going to help one by more than a minute compared to a perfectly-flat course.
Vaughn’s run reminded us a lot of the performance of another Sara: Sara Hall, who ran 2:28:10 to win CIM in 2017 at age 34. Like Hall, Vaughn ran a variety of events on the track (she has competed at USAs in the 800, 1500, and steeple) but was never a star – though she was better than Hall, as Vaughn has faster pbs at 1500 (4:04 vs. 4:08) and the steeple (9:38 vs. 9:39) and made a Worlds team in the 1500 in 2017. Also like Hall, Vaughn turned to the marathon later in her career (Hall debuted at 31 but it took a few years for her to find success). And as if that’s not enough similarities, they have the same first name, are both married to former pro runners who were on their team in college, and both have four kids (though Vaughn, unlike Hall, also gave birth four times).
It’s not fair to expect Vaughn to find the same level of success in the marathon as Hall – whose 2:20:32 pb is #2 all-time among Americans. But she displayed some insane range with her debut at CIM, especially considering Vaughn PR’d in the 400 in June ran 4:05.23 for 1500 (less than a second off her 1500 pb) less than five months ago.