After facing some indecision, Oregon State’s Kaylee Mitchell ran the 1500 meter on a whim and took first place in 4 minutes and 14.76 seconds on Friday night at Oregon Twilight.
“I wasn’t even supposed to race today,” Mitchell said. “But I’m planning on doing the sequel 1500 double at Pac-12. And the last time I ran a 15 was the night after 5K, so by the time we get to Pac-12 that will have been six weeks ago. I just wanted to get another rep in so I wasn’t focused on my time or anything just like practicing running a 1500 going into the prelims on Friday.”
Mitchell ran in the front of the pack for the majority of the race. Then, she “trusted her instincts” to pull away with 400 meters remaining instead of her usual 150-meter mark.
Another factor in her decision to ultimately run was that, as a senior, she should try to savor her moments at the stadium as much as she can and remind herself that “races are fun.”
“I can tend to get pretty wrapped up in like, oh my gosh, I need to run this time, and I need to be perfect pacing for this,” Mitchell said. “I mean, give me this place and, and this, this, this, instead of just being like, I’m just excited to take my watch off, get on the track, and run and race and compete. So I’ve really just been trying to enjoy that because I mean, it’s my last outdoor season in the beaver uniform.”
Mitchell is excited about her win in Hayward Field, home of OSU’s rival, the Oregon Ducks track and field team.
“We’re pretty hyped,” she said. “ I don’t know if you’ve seen, but we’re currently ranked 15th as a team in the NCAA, which has never happened before. So I think bringing that into PACs. We have a lot of momentum going into it.”
University of Portland’s Laura Pellicoro crossed second at the finish line for another year at 4:15.41. Last year she seemed to have the race in her grasp. She had made her move from third place to first at the 1,300-meter mark.
However, Lizzie Bird came streaking by Pellicoro’s right shoulder and overtook her in the final 20 meters to steal the win.
This year, Pellicoro fought the rest of the pack in the last 100, but Mitchell had already made her move and was leaps and bounds ahead of the pack.
Mitchell outran notable runners such as Oregon’s Klaudia Kazimierska, Maddy Elmore and Olympian Courtney Frerichs.
Kazimierska, the freshman from Poland, displayed her budding potential on Friday when she swept in behind Pellicoro and finished third overall at 4:16.13.
Kazimierska has already made her mark during her first season at Oregon. In her first appearance at the NCAA Indoor Championships, she became the No. 2 performer in Oregon history finishing in 4:32.03 performance at the Arkansas Qualifier.
Elmore, who finished No. 5 overall, was able to sustain a good pace as she prepared for the Pac-12 Championships.
