2 min readAs Sadie Engelhardt lined up for the professional section of the mile at the Hoka Festival of Miles on Thursday night, she knew she had been dethroned.
Just one race earlier, in the high school girls section, Allie Zealand broke Engelhardt’s outdoor mile record from April, running 4:30.38 to dominate the heat.
It would stand for just 15 minutes.
Engelhardt, the only high schooler in the professional heat, closed hard in 63.21 seconds to take second place in a new high school outdoor national record of 4:28.46. She’s the first high schooler to ever break the 4:30 barrier outdoors. (Mary Cain owns the outright mile record of 4:28.25 from 2013, which she ran indoors.)
Engelhardt said after the race that being in the professional field helped push her to the record. She ran much of the race in the middle of the pack, before unleashing a kick where she passed six runners in the last lap.
“It kind of gave me motivation seeing those people in front of me,” Engelhardt told RunnerSpace. “Most of the time I’m front-running in high school races, so I think that gave me more of a boost. I’m very happy with my positioning throughout that race.”
Only a junior, Engelhardt—a North Carolina State commit—has strung together an impressive year.
She set the previous high school outdoor mile record at the Mt. SAC Relays on April 20, breaking Katelyn Tuhoy’s record by two seconds in 4:31.72.
Engelhardt also achieved the Olympic Trials 1500-meter standard at The TEN in March with a 4:09.70 performance. She put together an undefeated season in the 1600 meters, winning the California state championships in the event last week and anchoring her 4x800-meter relay to a win. She also helped Ventura High School set the national record in the outdoor DMR (11:21.85) at Mt. SAC.
Although Zealand lost her record just minutes after setting it, her time of 4:30.38 was a personal best by over 7 seconds and is now the fastest mile ever in a high-school-only race.
And those weren’t the only impressive prep performances of the day. In the boys mile, Drew Griffith of Pennsylvania broke the four-minute barrier for the first time, cruising to the win in 3:57.72. His time is now the fifth-fastest ever by a high schooler.
Theo Kahler is the news editor at Runner’s World. He’s a former all-conference collegiate runner at Winthrop University, and he received his master’s degree in liberal arts studies from Wake Forest University, where he was a member of one of the top distance-running teams in the NCAA. Kahler has reported on the ground at major events such as the Paris Olympics, U.S. Olympic Trials, New York City Marathon, and Boston Marathon. He’s run 14:20 in the 5K, 1:05:36 in the half marathon, and enjoys spotting tracks from the sky on airplanes. (Look for colorful ovals around football fields.)
