Naomi Hillen made up some ground on Saturday.
The Pottsgrove junior found herself just inside the top 15 at the mile mark. At the two mile mark, she made her way up to fourth. And with a terrific kick Hillen took home the win in the girls' White Race at the Paul Short Run.
Hillen clocked a personal best of 18:37 -- the second time in her career she's been under 19 minutes -- for the victory.
Down the long home stretch of Lehigh, Hillen had her sights set on Pennsbury's Tatum Lynch -- among the pre-race favorites. With about 20 meters to go, Hillen caught Lynch, who noticed it and surged. The two were neck-and-neck in the closing steps.
The timers gave the narrow win to Hillen by just a tenth of a second over Lynch with both girls running 18:37.
| PLACE | ATHLETE | TEAM | RESULT | POINTS | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Naomi Hillen | 11 | Pottsgrove | 18:37.00 | 0 | ||
| 2 | Tatum Lynch | 11 | Pennsbury | 18:37.10 | 1 | ||
| 3 | Kate Sherman | 11 | Mohonasen | 18:45.20 | 2 | ||
| 4 | Lydia Colasante | 9 | Tatnall | 18:50.90 | 3 | ||
| 5 | Sarah Hurst | 11 | Lower Merion | 18:54.80 | 4 | ||
This has happened before in the White Race at Paul Short. In fact, it was last year that Calvary Christian's Abigail Brown won a similar sprint to the line over Neshaminy's Kaylee McCullough in Paul Short's White Race
Saturday's race was still a nice PR of for Lynch, who has emerged as one of the season's top breakthrough talents this fall. She'll be one to watch as the postseason is close to getting underway.
Watch the girls' White Race above and check out an interview with Hillen after the race below.