KARL PEARSON
Edgewood senior Mallory Kreider appears to be taking the early steps to a defense of the Division II state 3200-meter run title she earned last June.
Actually, after her performance in the Division II-III portion of the Ohio Association of Track and Cross Country Coaches state indoor meet Saturday at the University of Akron, the Ohio State recruit has already defended another state title she held.
For the second straight year, she won the 3200-meter run, this time establishing a new meet record with a time of 11:16, which was also a seven-second improvement over her winning time in 2009.
In addition, Kreider finished second in the 1600-meter run in 5:17.0. She was outkicked by defending Division III state 400-meter dash champion Bekka Simko of Gilmour Academy in the stretch run of that event.
It was also a big day for another Edgewood runner, sophomore Juliana Simmons. Also competing in the 3200-meter run, she finished ninth in 12:04.0.
Kreider was pleased with her performance.
“I was happy with my place and time in the 3200,” she said. “I was pretty happy with the 1600, too. I tried to outkick her, but Bekka Simko is such a good sprinter.”
She was equally pleased for Simmons.
“I know Juliana was shooting to break 12:20, so running 12:04 was really something, even if she did miss placing (by one spot),” Kreider said. “I was so excited for her.”
Edgewood coach Steve Hill was certainly pleased with all those results.
“I thought Mallory ran two real good races,” he said. “She just ran away in the 3200. She uses the 1600 as a warmup for the 3200. I thought she ran really well there, too. I thought she was very consistent.
“I was really pleased with Juliana’s race. She took almost 30 seconds off her personal best time, which is pretty amazing.”
