Kristin Siegle shattered her own Rider school record in the 800 at the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Championships on Sunday in Lawrenceville.
Siegle, a graduate of Buena and now a Rider grad student, ran 2:09.83, breaking her record of 2:10.83 that she set last month on the same track.
Before that race, Rider’s school record was 2:11.24, set in 2016 by Steph Welte.
Siegle had an 800 PR of 2:17.90 until the 2019 outdoor season, when she ran 2:13.90 in an indoor meet at Ocean Breeze. Thanks to the pandemic, she didn’t race another 800 for 22 months, when she ran the 2:10.83.
Siegle, who also set the Rider 1,500 record this spring at 4:25.33, would have been a huge favorite to win the 1,500 at the MAAC Championships but elected instead to try the the more competitive 800, and she wound up finishing a step behind Monmouth’s Katie Locker, a freshman from Elizabethtown, Pa., who ran a huge PR of her own at 2:09.54.
But Siegle, who hails from Estelle Manor, has now lowered the school record in the 800 by nearly 1 1/2 seconds and the school record in the 1,500 by nearly 3 1/2 seconds. Siegle broke that one twice, with a 4:28.75 at Monmouth last month and then her 4:25.33 at Franklin Field a week later.
Siegle also ran a 2:11.65 leg on Rider’s 3rd-place 3,200-meter relay team, which ran 9:22.95
Siegle will have another opportunity to race either the 800 or 1,500 at the ECAC Championships at American International College in Centerville, Mass., next weekend.
At Buena, Siegle had PRs of 2:20.03 for 800 meters and 5:15.98 for 1,600 meters.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 