Nesmith winning the Cobb County 3200m earlier this year
There's a new GOAT in Georgia high school girls distance running. Mary Nesmith from Marietta set the new standard in girls 2 mile at the Arcadia Invitational late last night. Nesmith ran 10:15.89 for the full 2 mile distance, beating the old 3200m state record of 10:16.05. However, since Nesmith's time was for a full 2 mile, which is longer than the traditional 3200m distance, we have to convert it down to a 3200. Using the MileSplit Conversion Calculator, her time converts down to 10:12.32 for the 3200m, which is now the new state record. Her splits in the race were 78.25, 76.12, 74.04, 76.13, 79.50, 78.81, 79.80, 73.28 which was a very impressive showing overall.
In terms of the race experience itself, Mary had this to say: "The race was so fun! It was really encouraging to get to race with a lot of really fast girls and it really helped push me the whole race. The atmosphere of Arcadia also is so great and really makes the race what it is!" And I can concur, there really is something special about racing at that meet. If you ever get the chance to do so, I would encourage you to take it. Many of Georgia's best have done really well there.
And it's not surprising that it's an athlete who is coached by the GOAT when it comes to distance coaches in Georgia, either. "She raced strong last night." says coach Jack Coleman of Nesmith's race. When you combine a great runner with a great coach, magic happens.
Tommy Latham from Marist also lowered his own state 3200m record in the boys top race, placing 5th overall. Georgia's top runners are really starting to show a habit of competing with the nation's best in recent years on the distance side, which is a really enjoyable thing to see.