https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/highschools/weini-kelati-finishes-high-school-career-with-win-at-new-balance-nationals-outdoor/2016/06/18/6c25fe9e-3405-11e6-8758-d58e76e11b12_story.html
Weini Kelati finishes high school career with win at New Balance
Nationals Outdoor
By Nick Eilerson June 18
Weini Kelati isn’t used to having company on her runs. Heritage’s
distance phenom, who in March ran the fastest indoor 5K for a high
schooler in U.S. history, tends to drift beyond her peers.
But on Saturday afternoon at New Balance Nationals Outdoor in her
final high school race, the 19-year-old Eritrea native finally found
herself in lockstep with a competitor. That only revved her up even
more, though, and Kelati finished in 10 minutes 0.38 seconds to hold
off Leesville Road (N.C.) junior Nevada Mareno by .06 seconds to win
the two-mile finals in Greensboro, N.C.
“It’s always good to have someone there to run with you,” Kelati said.
“It was a great race. I had a great experience.”
After battling 20-mph winds in Friday’s 5K, which she won by 20
seconds, Kelati enjoyed calmer conditions on Saturday, running with
the pack during the first mile before surging forward alongside Mareno
the rest of the way. Both runners put together negative splits.
Later on in the meet, the Lake Braddock boys’ team was disqualified
from the 4x800 relay finals for an impeding infraction 500 meters into
the first leg. The Bruins weren’t made aware of the infraction until
after the race and actually had an early lead before finishing 12th.
South Lakes broke a school record in the girls’ 4x800 with a time of
9:15.79, while West Springfield finished close behind at 9:16.00.
Neither team placed in the event.
Washington-Lee senior Benedict Draghi posted a personal record in the
shot put preliminaries with a mark of 63 feet 8 inches, then bested
that in the finals (64-71/4) to grab eighth place.
Edison junior Gregory Lucas-Roscoe was Virginia’s top finisher in the
triple jump, reaching a mark of 44 feet 6 inches to put him in seventh
place.
Carroll’s boys appeared to win their 4x200 finals race in 1:26.73, but
an exchange infraction wiped out that result. They rebounded a few
hours later to win their heat in the 4x100 prelims and will compete in
those finals Sunday.
Bullis’s Austin Allen won the freshman long jump finals with a meet
record of 23 feet 23/4 inches, while Sierra Leonard followed suit for
the Bulldogs in the girls’ long jump with a winning mark of 17-10¼ .
Northwest’s Taylor Wright broke a meet record in the freshman girls’
triple jump finals with a mark of 38-3½ . She also triumphed in the
freshman girls’ 100 dash in 11.75 seconds. DeMatha’s Nicholas Wilson
claimed the freshman boys’ 400 dash in 48.77 seconds.
Rachel McArthur finished third in the one-mile race at the Brooks PR
Invitational in Seattle. The Patriot junior managed a personal-best
time of 4:45 despite needing to hurdle over a cluster of runners that
got tripped up with about 350 meters to go.
“I felt really bad because I knew the girls that went down,” McArthur
said. “My first reaction was to stop and help them, but it kind of
just woke me up and gave me an adrenaline rush.”
Received on Mon Jun 20 2016 - 13:40:22 EDT