Haddonfield’s Marielle Hall placed second in the 10,000-meter run Thursday at the USATF National Championships in Boise.
Hall ran 31:56.68, finishing just 25 meters behind Molly Huddle, who won in 31:52.32. Hall ran less than 20 seconds off her PR of 31:37.45 set two years ago. It was her first 10,000 on the track since May of 2016.
After the initial lap, Hall ran a ridiculously even set of splits through a mile to go, when the race really sped up. From lap 2 through lap 21, she ran every lap between 76.70 and 78.57 and at one point clicked off six straight laps between 77.12 and 77.87.
The top 12 runners stayed packed together for most of the race, with Hall spending the entire race either in second or third, just behind Huddle and Stephanie Bruce. With five laps to go, Hall moved into second, and with four laps to go, Huddle and Hall had gapped the field, building a rapidly growing lead on the rest of the pack.
Hall ran her last 1,600 in 4:42 and her final 800 in 2:17.6, but Huddle closed in 64.5 and gapped Hall on the final lap.
Here are Hall’s splits for the 25-lap race:
400: 81.74 (81.74)
800: 78.62 (2:40.36)
1,600: 78.01 (3:58.36)
2,000: 77.55 (5:15.65)
2,400: 77.31 (7:50.48)
2,800: 77.15 (9:07.37)
3,200: 77.12 (10:24.49)
3,600: 77.24 (11:41.72)
4,000: 77.87 (12:59.58)
4,800: 78.23 (15:35.33)
5,200: 77.47 (16:52.80)
5,600: 78.47 (18:11.26)
6,000: 76.70 (19:27.96)
6,400: 78.14 (20:46.09)
6,800: 77.19 (22:03.23)
7,200: 77.45 (23:20.67)
7,600: 77.64 (24:48.31)
8,000: 77.35 (25:55.66)
8,400: 78.57 (27:14.23)
8,800: 73.09 (28:27.31)
9,200: 71.78 (29:39.08)
9,600: 69.10 (30:48.17)
10,000: 68.51 (31:56.68)
Hall is entered in the 5,000, which is scheduled for Sunday.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 