Half-miler runs best as North girls sweep
By: Justin Feil
If Kelly Callahan had her way, she might be running more than one individual event.
The West Windsor-Plainsboro North sophomore though understands how valuable she is as the top regular 800-meter runner for the girls’ track and field team. The Knights saw her potential last year in her first season of varsity track.
"She was running the 1600 and 3200," recalled Knight girls’ coach Bill Mealy. "She was being rotated around. We do that in hopes to find something somebody is really good at. She came around to the 800 and did such a good job, it became her event. She wants to run some more, but she realizes she’s important for the team in the 800."
Callahan is regularly the top half-miler for WW-P North. When accomplished distance ace and Indoor Mercer County Championship mile winner Trish Reilly moved down to run the 800 in Tuesday’s tri-meet against Nottingham and Robbinsville, Callahan followed Reilly all the way home for a personal best 2:30. She was just four-hundredths of a second behind Reilly. The Knights’ 1-2 finish played a part in picking up their first wins of the season with the sweep.
"It’s my first time I had a race with her this year," Callahan said. "I just tried to stick with her."
The new personal record proved to be one of many on a solid day for the Knights. Callahan also ran a leg of the 4×400 relay that won to close the meet with wins over Nottingham, 83-56, and Robbinsville, 112-24.
"I think it helps us a lot because this is the first meet we won all season," Callahan said. "We were surprised that we won because there were three girls that were disqualified."
Not even a trio of disqualifications could diminish one fine performance after another. The Knights have seen steady progress through the season.
"It was a real good day," Mealy said. "We had 35 personal bests today. We’ve been coning up with approximately 20 personal bests per meet, just not enough to win them. How can we get upset? You get that many personal bests and that’s not good enough to win the meet, we can’t go crazy. We just have to keep working at it and see what happens."
Callahan was encouraged by Tuesday’s results. For the first time, she eclipsed a mark she ran in the indoor track season. It shows she is adjusting to her role as a half-miler specialist.
"I’ve just been trying to work on my 800 time more," she said. "That’s a hard event. They put a lot of sprinters in it.
"I think that’s my favorite event now," she added. "I run it more than anything else."
Callahan also has found a liking for track in her return. She had been away from competitive running for quite some time until last season.
"I didn’t run track in middle school," she said. "I just started freshman year. I didn’t have any idea (about her 800 talent. I never tried it before.
"I actually did cross country in sixth grade and I played soccer through the rest of middle school. When I got to high school, I decided to go back to trying track again."
It went well enough in her first year that she pursued winter track this year. She won the first heat of the 800 at the indoor county championship, and ran fast enough to have placed eighth overall. Getting in the extra training has paid off this spring.
"It helped a lot," Callahan said. "We really liked Coach (Brian) Gould. My times got a lot better from him coaching us. I think my mile time got better by about 15 seconds. In the 800, I think it’s about 10 seconds."
For Mealy, who coaches wrestling in the winter, the changes were noticeable from year to year, especially having not seen her run in the winter.
"She’s improved a lot," Mealy said. "She did well last year as a freshman. This year, as a sophomore, we’re counting on her a lot. The 800 is right in the middle of everything. It’s too important for us to have her double.
"I’d like to work her into some other things and I will when I know it won’t make a difference. She was part of the relay that ran at Penn Relays. They finished fourth in their heat in 4:12. That was one second off the school record."
Callahan is part of that team, which also included Reilly, Chelsea Walters and Holland Thomas, to finish up every meet. It’s a different sort of race from the 800.
"It’s shorter, but I’m still getting used to that," Callahan said. "I’m more used to longer distances."
She is getting more and more accustomed to being the top threat for the Knights in the 800 meters. It’s a role that Kelly Callahan has settled into, one that figures to help her climb toward the top of the county in the two years yet to come.