Cain Drops The Hammer

Bronxville’s Mary Cain continued her demolition of the record books with her win at the USATF Junior Championships. Cain ran 4:14.74 to win the 1,500-meter run, breaking Jordan Hasay’s meet record in the process. Her time — which leaves her just .24 off Hasay’s national record of 4:14.50 from 2008 — set a new national sophomore class record and broke her own N.Y. State record.

“I wanted to PR, so I’m excited," Cain said. “I’m used to running alone, so I was pumped. I knew they would not just let me go, they would be on me this whole time and that’s exactly what they did. It was a big honor running with them.” 

Cain’s win earns her a trip to Barcelona, Spain, in July for the World Junior Championships. But Cain wasn’t the only high school girl to run fast at the meet though.  Runner-up to Cain was Hannah Meier of Grosse Pointe (Mich.), who stopped the clock at 4:18.44.

The boys’ 1,500-meter was won by Austin Mudd of the University of Wisconsin in 3:46.50. 

“I knew people were going to key off me having the fastest seed time coming into the meet so my coach and I decided to take it out a little faster than I’m used to,” Mudd said. “I was mid-pack going into the last 200m so I was trying to running as fast as I could until I saw the finish.”

Oregon freshman Chad Noelle — a native of Greene (N.Y.) — was third in 3:46.69 in a near-blanket finish. Owen Skeete — who hails from Westbury (N.Y.) and was known for his front-runner style in high school — placed seventh in 3:51.59.

On Saturday Ajee Wilson — the star runner from Neptune (N.J.) — won the 800-meter run in 2:04.86 to secure her trip to Barcelona. Oregon freshman Claudia Francis placed fourth in 2:08.69.