SPASH's Roisin Willis sets high school indoor record in 800 meters at Boston meet
SPASH senior Roisin Willis is now the U.S. high school girls 800-meter indoor record holder after narrowly missing becoming the first girls high school athlete to finish in under 2 minutes indoors.
Willis' time of 2:00.06 at the David Hemery Valentine Invitational in Boston on Friday eclipsed Sammy Watson's mark of 2:01.78 set in 2017. Sophia Gorriaran, a junior at Moses Brown School in Providence, Rhode Island, also beat the old mark with a time of 2:00.58 to finish fourth. Willis also beat out professionals Madeleine Kelly and Cynthia Anais to win the event.
Only Mary Cain's 2013 time outdoors of 1:59.51 has been faster than Willis for girls in the recorded history of U.S. high school track and field. While the mark falls under the World Athletics Indoor Championships qualifying mark of 2:01.50, Willis told Letsrun.com that she is focusing on high school competition rather than competing in the USATF Indoor Championships in less than two weeks.
Willis signed a letter of commitment last fall to run in college for Stanford University.
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The new HS 800m record-holder: Roisin Willis 2:00.06 🙌
📺: https://t.co/rd9wk1zDdq pic.twitter.com/nYdrSleeE5— FloTrack (@FloTrack) February 11, 2022
Contact USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin sports reporter Zac Bellman at zbellman@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @ZacBellman_WNY.
This article originally appeared on Stevens Point Journal: SPASH's Roisin Willis sets high school indoor track 800-meter record