Sophomore track star Abby Hennessy broke the WA school record for the Girls’ 1000-meter race by three seconds at the Massachusetts State Championship at the Reggie Lewis Center in Boston on Saturday, February 24, finishing in 2:53.54.
The 1000-meter race is about sixth-tenths of a mile and five full laps around an indoor 200 meter track. Throughout the winter season, Hennessy trained for the 1000-meter and 600-meter races, along with the 4×400 meter relay.
Hennessy competed against 20 other runners in the 1000-meter race and placed first, finishing about three seconds ahead of the second place finisher. On the day of the meet, Hennessy was notified that the first seed for the 1000-meter race dropped out of the competition, making her advance to the number one seed. After learning this information, her biggest challenge before the race was keeping a good mindset.
“This was pretty nerve wracking because it set a high precedent and I felt like I needed to reach those expectations. I knew that the race was going to be a very close race since everyone had personal records that were fractions of a second away from each other,” Hennessy said. “In the hour before my race, when I was warming up I tried to stay focused in the moment to not overthink the race, or stress myself out too much.”
For the first four laps of the race, Hennessy ran beside the other top runners. A few racers including herself made a pack that she finally pulled away from on the fifth and final lap, ultimately winning the race.
Hennessy’s main focus this season was to improve her 1000-meter time and technique. Although she had worked hard all season, winning this race was not an expectation she had for herself.
“I was honestly not expecting to win this race at all this year,” Hennessy said. “Winning a State Championship was definitely one of my biggest goals, but I didn’t expect to achieve it this season.”
A handful of other WA athletes competed in events at the State Championship. Senior Alin Aydogan and junior Audrey Smagula competed in the 55-meter hurdles as well as the high jump, and sophomore Emily Wedlake ran the 1 mile. Multiple girls participated in relays including junior Ali Panojia, senior Sarah Kirby, senior Jordan Bishop, and junior Nadia Swepsen in the 4×200 meter relay. Pantoja ran the 4×400 meter relay later in the meet with junior Sydney Weiss, junior Ashley Vinith, and Hennessy.
Hennessy will be participating in a few upcoming meets as a result of placing well in her 1000m race and 4×400 meter relay. On Saturday, March 2, she will run the 4×400 meter relay with her team at the New England Championship. This will prepare Hennessy for the New Balance Indoor Track Nationals race, which takes place from March 7 to March 10. On Friday, March 8, she will run the 1200-meter leg of the Distance Medley relay. Then on Sunday, March 10, Hennessy will compete in an individual 800-meter race, which is her main event.
“I’m most nervous for this event, since it is my main event,” Hennessy said. “I have not had the opportunity to race the 800-meter much this indoor season so I am hoping to run a good time to finish my indoor season [and have] a good opening to my outdoor season.”
