Cain, Rupp, and Five Minutes of History
In a span of five minutes, everything we knew about the mile changed. Mary Cain went for the national prep indoor mile record at the New Balance Games in New York, New York while Galen Rupp attempted to break the American indoor mile record at the Boston Terrier Invitational. The rabbits had their schedule and the challengers were prepared. The only factor we didn’t consider was the time. No, not the time of the race clock. The time when the two races would go off. It just so happened that both record attempts occurred simultaneously in what was one of the most historic few minutes in American middle-distance running history. Cain once again toed the line against the professionals to try and break the the girls’ indoor mile record of 4:38.5 set by Debbie Heald. The mark had stood since 1972 and was the oldest standing record in girls’ track and field. The past tense is used to describe the situation because just like we saw at the UW Indoor Preview, Cain would once again rise to the occasion. Ashley Higginson doubled back from the her one mile steeplechase victory to rabbit the field through 400m in 67-seconds. Cain smartly tucked herself into the pack as she passed 800m in 2:17, which was two-seconds under national record pace.
Jan 26, 2013
