Shelby Houlihan came into the 2014 NCAA Indoor Championships with the second-slowest seed time in the field of 16. The then-junior from Arizona State finished 10th in the prelims and found herself again at the bottom of the list, as 10 ladies advanced to the final. In the closing race, Houlihan used smart racing tactics and a lethal kick to finish third, just .4 seconds behind second-place Stephanie Brown of Arkansas, and .7 seconds behind winner Emily Lipari of Villanova.

When outdoor track approached, Houlihan used the lessons learned from the indoor season to go out with a bang. She won her second Pac-12 title in the 1500m, as well as her first conference 5000m crown, finished a comfortable third at the NCAA west preliminary round, and brought home her first NCAA Title in the 1500m in 4:18.10, over a full second faster than runner-up Cory McGee of Florida.

Now Houlihan is facing a new challenge, being the top collegiate invited to run in the NYRR Millrose Games Wanamaker Mile. 

“I’m really excited,” Houlihan said. “It’s really cool to be in a field that competitive. I’m actually trying not to think about it too much!” Houlihan said laughing.

(Note: At the time the fields were released, Houlihan was the only collegiate athlete invited. As of 2/10/2014, Iona's Rosie Clarke will also be competing in the Wanamaker Mile.)

The senior will toe the line with some of the top milers in the country. To name a few, 2014 champion Mary Cain, recent Camel City Mile winner Shannon Rowbury, and Nicole Tully, who almost stunned Brenda Martinez in the distance medley relay last weekend at the New Balance Grand Prix, will all be in attendance. The fastest indoor PR in the field happens to be a world-leading time right now in Rowbury’s 4:22.66 from two weekends ago. Houlihan’s best indoors? 4:38.45. But her all-time best for the distance comes from this summer when she traveled to Canada after the U.S. Championships.

“Each year I kind of get hungrier for more, like I just want to keep going. I don’t want to stop,” Houlihan said. So she headed to Canada to test her fitness at a few high-level meets. At the Victoria Track Classic on July 8th, she ran a personal best 4:10.89 for 1500m. Just two days later in Burnaby she ran her best mile time in 4:33.52.

“Running a 4:33 two days after a race is not totally reflective of what I probably could run. So I’m pretty excited to see what I can actually do.”

After the cross country season ended (Where Houlihan finished a disappointing ninth at the NCAA Championships), she focused her attention to track. At the Texas A&M Quadrangular Meet on Jan. 24, Houlihan ran an NCAA-leading mark of 9:03.71 for 3000m in a race she says felt “really easy.”

“It was surprisingly really easy to go do and I know I can run a lot faster.”

That mark gives her confidence heading into Millrose. “I was a little hesitant going into it because I knew I was fit, but you know you haven’t raced really fast in a while and it’s kind of nerve-wrecking,” Houlihan said. It’s safe to say she knows she is fit now.

Even with a seventh-place finish at the U.S. Championships in the 800m (with a PR of 2:01.12) last June, Houlihan thinks she’s more of a 1500m runner. “My freshman year I would kind of just sit and kick as hard as I could the last few 100s and I would never win because I wasn’t racing it right,” she said. After packing so much experience into one season in 2014, Houlihan has her sights set on big goals for this weekend and beyond. She thinks she could probably break 2 minutes in the 800m, but her ultimate goal for the weekend reflects the confidence she exudes in her training and races, and sounds like it’s coming from someone much more experienced than the college senior.

“My ultimate goal would be winning it and breaking the collegiate record.” That record? 4:25.91 set by Jenny Simpson, then Barringer, representing the University of Colorado in 2009. Houlihan may be one of the least experienced in the field, but there’s no doubt she’s up for the challenge.