i think this is all great for hasay, and i wish her all the best.
but i have to say there is no one in the running world i feel worse for than mel lawrence. she is constantly overlooked and overshadowed by other great talents such as aislinn ryan and katelyn kaltenbach...yet she has improved beyond each of them (arguably) since and now another great talent comes up...i mean it looks like mel lawrence will be the foot locker runner up for 4 years straight, unless something unexpected happens this weekend. that is a TREMENDOUS accomplishment. personally, i think that's a much greater accomplishment than winning it once or even twice.
obviously being that close must hurt bad, and obviously everyone wants the win, but that doesnt take away from consistently being extremely close to the top for this long a time. i mean nelson, kaltenbach, and ryan were all underclassmen when they won and had the opportunity to repeat, nicole blood is probably one of the most famous preps, but in my opinion mel is the most successful hs distance runner in a very long time.
i have a tremendous amount of respect for mel lawrence...one of the most consistent HS runners in a very long time...and besides, how can you not root for someone who is the runner up three years in a row? i wish her the very best of luck to her this weekend.