Highland grad Grace Wassell, a sophomore at Wake Forest, obliterated her 5,000-meter PR Saturday at the Royals Challenge in Charlotte, N.C.
Wassell ran 17:17.1 at McAlpine Greenway and placed 4th out of nearly 200 runners in the Gold race. Wake won the team title 27-61 over Charlotte. In a merge of nearly 350 runners in two women’s races, Wassell’s time was also 4th-fastest.
Wassell’s previous 5K all-course best was an 18:05.24 when she won South Jersey Group 3 sectionals in 2021 on the DREAM Park speedway in Logan Township. She ran 18:216.61 last fall in Boone, N.C., in her only previous collegiate 5K.
She even beat her 5,000-meter track PR of 17:39, which she ran on her home track in Winston-Salem in April.
Wassell was named ACC Performer of the Week for her performance in Charlotte.
Wake Forest is ranked 5th in the NCAA Division 1 Southeast Region.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 