Jenna Hutchins Runs 15:34.47 To Break US Girls High School 5,000 Record

by Robert Johnson
December 11, 2020

Jenna Hutchins, the 16-year-old high school junior from Johnson City, Tennessee, ran 15:34.47 for 5,000 meters this afternoon to break Katelyn Tuohy‘s US high school girls record of 15:37.12 at the Five and Dime Athletics Meeting in Columbia, South Carolina.

Shortly after hitting 1,600 in 4:56, Hutchins took the lead and she did all of the leading the rest of the race as she was in front for the entire final eight laps. She slowed a little bit during the second 1,600 (9:59 for 3,200, so roughly a 5:03) but managed to keep things together very well during the third 1,600. She hit 4,800 in 15:00 and a final 200 of 34.2 gave her the record (70.63 final 400). Multi-time NCAA DIII champ Annie Rodenfels, who was only a few seconds behind Hutchins for virtually the entire race, was second in 15:35.18 thanks to a 68.25 final lap, a nice improvement on her 15:49 previous PR.

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While the 5,000 distance isn’t run all that often by US high schoolers, do not think for a second that Hutchins’ mark is soft. According to LetsRun.com coaching/stat guru, John Kellogg, her mark is the 2nd-best high school girls’ distance mark if you convert it down to a 2-mile as he says it’s equivalent to a 9:40.08 2-mile and Mary Cain ran a 9:38.68 2-mile indoors in 2013.

You can watch a full video replay of her record run in the player below. Lap-by-lap splits are here.

According to Timinginc.com, the splits for Hutchins were as follows:

36.08 1:14.54 1:14.78 1:13.83
(36.08) (1:50.62) (3:05.39) (4:19.22)
1:15.65 1:14.92 1:15.29 1:16.12
(5:34.86) (6:49.78) (8:05.07) (9:21.18)
1:16.24 1:15.48 1:15.99 1:14.97
(10:37.42) (11:52.89) (13:08.88) (14:23.84)
1:10.63
(15:34.47)

Results

1	Hutchins, Jenna	      Johnson City, TN	15:34.47
2	Rodenfels, Annie      Asics GTC Elite	15:35.18
3	Alder, Carmen	      NC	        ??***listed time isn't correct***
3?	Blancett, Janel	      Atlanta TC	16:33.44
4?	Bell, Rolanda	      CPTC/Tracksmith	16:37.63
5?	Brumley, Briar	      CPTC/Tracksmith	16:46.59
6?	Ashley, Caity	      Unattached	16:56.99
7?	Forner, Emily	      Asics GTC Elite	17:06.47
8?	Alder, Vanessa	      NC	        17:11.37

Talk about the race on our fan forum / message board: Jenna Hutchins Outdoor 5k this Friday- Five and Dime Meet.

Related: High Schooler Brynn Brown Runs Second-Best 3,200 In US HS Girls’ History

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