In a normal year, Eastern Relays is a staple on most
distance runner's calendars but, since the meet was scheduled at a time when
most state qualifying races were occurring, the entries from Tennessee were limited.
That said, it didn't stop some from posting some incredible times last weekend.
Abby Faith Cheeseman
A couple of weeks ago, Webb School 8th Grader Abby Faith Cheeseman stepped on the track with stiff competition at the Great Eight Invitational and though she posted a Personal Best, wasn't able to hang with the leaders that day. Last Friday, she finished as one of the leaders posting a TN #2 10:38.30 3200m run. Unfortunately, they didn't shoot race video on Friday night or else I would embed the race below.
Bella Guillamondegui
In the same race as Cheeseman, Harpeth Hall's Bella Guillamondegui trailed Abby by just 4 second on her way to posting a TN #5 at the distance. This really is a testament to how stacked Tennessee distance running is. There are 2 girls between Abby and Bella in the span of 4 seconds? However, the 3200 wasn't the highlight of the weekend for the Honey Bear. On Saturday Bella also races in the 800m and posted a TN #2 2:15.92! Outside of Hutchins, she's the only girl under 2:17 heading into qualifying.
Bella Guillamondegui and Allison Newman run top times in the 800m.
Allison Newman
The road to recovery has been long for Allison Newman but it appears she is rounding into form. I watched as she moderately paced her way behind Braese at the Houston track classic in her first race back from injury but it appears as if she's ready to push going into qualifying. Newman joined 13 other girls across the state under 2:20 coming in at 2:19.85, A TN #12 currently.
Felicity Bost
Briarcrest's Felicity Bost looked to build on her TN #7 800m ranking but was unable to set a new PR on Saturday. It's best to get a bad race out of the way now rather than later. She's still the leader in the clubhouse for the Intrastate 4x800m and I'm not sure there are many that are capable of dethroning her from the top four.