Photo by Abby Huber
800 Meters - Freshman Emerge On The National Scene
Freshman Alana Yoder of Solanco dropped three seconds off her best time to run a 2:13.72 in the AAA 800 meter trials at the state meet. She was the only freshman to make it to finals this year, which in itself is quite an accomplishment. But Yoder was not done dropping time. The following day, she was excited to find herself among some of the state's best in the last stretch of finals. Yoder was right on the heels of two very talented senior girls in Olivia Arizin of O'Hara and Mikaela Vlasic of North Penn, taking third overall in an impressive 2:09.98. That's the #3 freshman time in the US.
Yoder reflected on what brought her so much success as a freshman.
"I definitely think training with coach Ausel was a big help," she said. "The support I had from all of my family and friends made me push myself to become better and I couldn't have done it without God on my side, that's for sure."
Watch Parks win the 800 meters at the Ship invite earlier this past spring:
Yoder's time is a historically fast time for a freshman. It's the fastest the state has seen from a ninth grader since Germantown Friends' Sarah Walker ran 2:08.55 in 2013. She went on to run a high school PR of 2:03.70 and currently competes for Stanford University.
The second fastest freshman in the state is Taryn Parks of Greencastle-Antrim. After taking second in a fast 1600 meters at Mid-Penn Conference Championships, she came back with a vengeance in the 800 meters. Wire-to-wire she led the race, crushing the field with an impressive time of 2:13.00.