Marissa Williams has logged a lot of mileage since winning the 1,600 and 3,200 meters in record time at the City Section track and field finals last spring. Big races once stressed her out, now the same can be said of SATs and AP tests.
“I don’t get as nervous before races as I used to,” she admits. “I’m never that excited either because I know I’m going to be in a lot of pain afterwards.”
On Saturday night, the Palisades High junior found herself in an elite fleld in the 3,200 race at the Arcadia Invitational and she showed she belonged by clocking a personal-best time of 10 minutes, 25.02 seconds to finish 11th out of 32 runners.
“I like my place and I just wanted to PR,” said Williams, who ran almost 14 seconds faster than her previous two-mile standard of 10:39 flat. “I had a feeling I might do it, but you never know what’s going to happen.”
Williams stayed within range of the lead pack for the first half of the eight-lap race but gradually gained ground and finished strong.
“I like it when someone else sets the pace,” she said. “For some parts [of the race] I was by myself and no one was calling out my splits so I was trying to do the calculations in my head. Coach [Bob Macias] wants me to improve on my seventh lap, but I felt fine afterwards and now I know how to gauge it.”
If she sticks to the two-mile distance, Williams’ goal by the end of the season is to run sub-10:20. There are two more big meets this weekend–the Mt. SAC Invitational in Walnut and the South Bay Championships in Torrance–and Williams said she would decide during the week which one to compete in.
Alexa Efraimson of Camas, Wash., won Saturday’s race in 9:55.92, smashing the previous Arcadia mark of 10:03.07 set by Jordan Hasay of San Luis Obispo Mission Prep in 2008. Williams was the third finisher from Southern California, behind only Bethan Knights of Irvine Northwood (she came in third in 10:04.05) and San Diego La Costa Canyon’s Emma Abrahamson, who was ninth in 10:23.50. Three-time champion Sarah Baxter, a senior at Simi Valley, decided not to run after sustaining a stress reaction in her leg earlier in the week.
Also competing at Arcadia was the Dolphins’ 4×100 girls relay team, consisting of Tessa DeNicola, Ashley Stevens, Kendal Lake and Doshawn Franks, which finished 18th out of 58 teams in the Open Division in a time of 49.39 seconds.
A few days before Arcadia, Williams ran the 1,600 in PaliHi’s Western League tri-meet against Westchester and Venice and she won easily in 4:58 at Stadium by the Sea. She took first in the 800 in a brisk 2:31 in PaliHi’s previous league meet at Hamilton.
“I like the mile best but speed work helps open your stride,” Williams said.
The Dolphins swept the boys and girls varsity divisions, thanks in part to the efforts of Franks, who won the girls 100 and 200 meters and contributed to PaliHi’s winning 4×100 relay. Elizabeth Goodman won the varsity girls 3,200 in 12:19 and freshman Jacob Pollack won the varsity boys 3,200 in 10:43. Emerson Simpson cleared five feet, four inches to win the varsity boys high jump.
Alex Olsen won the varsity girls long jump and Jacqui Vogel took first in the varsity girls high jump (4-06) and triple jump at last Wednesday’s tri-meet.
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