Skinner smashes her 3,000-meter record again
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Because she was seeded 16th in the state, Riverhead High School senior Katie Skinner almost did not have a chance to set a school indoor record in the 3,000 meters while finishing sixth in the state championships at Cornell University in Ithaca on Saturday.
Skinner's seeding left her on the cusp of being left out of the seeded final race. Riverhead Coach Becky Winkel said they did not find out until Friday night which race Skinner would be running in. Eventually, Skinner was the second-to-last runner to be included in the 17-person seeded race.
Then Skinner proceeded to smash her five-week-old school record of 10 minutes 18 seconds. The school indoor record is now 10:11.48.
It is almost a shame the 2009-10 winter track season had to end because Skinner spent the bulk of it setting and then resetting her personal bests, all the while rewriting a fair portion of the Riverhead record book. During a two-week span in January, she broke the school record for the indoor mile three times. She followed that with a nine-day span in which she broke the indoor 3,000-meter record twice.
"That's what you get when you get Katie," Winkel said.
Toeing the starting line at Barton Hall, Skinner had the best runners in the state to chase toward another school record. Winkel said it was good for Skinner to be able to start with Aisling Cuffe of Cornwall Central, who won the event in 9:36.95, and Holy Trinity's Colleen Schmidt, who finished in second place in 9:56.39.
Skinner could not keep up with them, but she did keep pace with the lead pack after having to jockey for position early on.
"She definitely had to work at the beginning, but that's good for her," Winkel said, adding, "She needs someone to push her, to set the tone."
Skinner got pushed fast enough that she left her main Suffolk County competition far behind. She spent several Section XI events parrying with Northport's Brigid Brennan and West Islip's Ali Foote. But in Ithaca, Brennan finished 24 seconds behind her; Foote was 25 seconds back.
As Skinner hit the bell lap, Winkel said, she decided to kick the final 400 meters, effectively carrying four runners with her. Two outkicked her in the final 50 meters.
"She didn't have anything left and they just passed her at the end," Winkel said.
But the final result was a new school record. On Friday night, Skinner was almost left out of the seeded final. Saturday she finished sixth in that same final.
"Isn't that crazy?" Winkel asked.
jwilliams@northshoresun.com
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