Amherst Regional senior Sophia Jacobs-Townsley has been training all season to run the 5,000 meters at the New Balance Indoor National Championships.
It’s paid off with an All-American designation.
Jacobs-Townsley ran 17 minutes, 19.15 seconds to place third in the Championship 5K on March 8.
“I was preparing for that and training for that,” she said. “I didn’t expect to be in for the win. After looking at the performance list I thought I had a chance.”
Noelle Adriaens, of Michigan, was first in 17:11.47. Grace Nolan, of Michigan, was second in 17:15.06.
Jacobs-Townsley took the lead early and held it for the first two miles with Adriaens and Nolan right behind her.
“I was having trouble knowing what was happening behind me,” Jacobs-Townsley said. “I knew there were one or two behind me. During the race it was a little stressful to be in the situation.”
Jacobs-Townsley fell off a bit in the closing mile. Leading the race took its toll, as did the heat at the Armory Track in New York.
“I was pretty thirsty and warm and kind of dizzy,” Jacobs-Townsley said. “That wasn’t great. I was sort of out of it, I started doing an extra lap.”
Jacobs-Townsley improved over last season. The Boston University-bound harrier finished 11th in the event in 17:42.56.
“I feel very comfortable running a 5K and the 5K and 10K are going to be the events I run in college,” she said. “A lot of my training has been geared toward the 5K pace. … Training for it paid off and I had the endurance for it.”
The Amherst Regional boys 4×200-meter relay took home a medal.
The team of Kai Bailin, Ben Fang, Isaiah Moyston and Junior Pontes da Veiga placed fifth in 1:30.69 seconds in the Emerging Elite division.
East St. Louis was first in 1:30.0. Sky’s The Limit (second), South County of Virginia (third) and Da View of Virginia (fourth) were separated by 0.58 seconds.
The Hurricanes’ foursome also competed in the Emerging Elite 4×400 relay where they placed 24th in 3:32.36.
Bailin competed in the Emerging Elite boys 200. Bailin ran 22.97 seconds but did not advance out of the preliminary heats.
South Hadley junior Lindsay Marjanski tied for 10th in the Emerging Elite girls high jump at 5-3.
Jacobs-Townsley was 24th in the 2-mile in 10:40.46 on Sunday.