Skye Ellis and Anna Hightower continue to close the outdoor campaign strong.
An invite to the Penn Relays is already a victory. The race is one of the most prestigious events in all of competitive running, and track and field luminaries from around the globe have dazzled at Franklin Field for over a century.
But the pair of Wildcat runners who received invites this April weren’t content with just going to Philadelphia and soaking in the environment. They came to etch their own names in Penn Relays history. They’d have their chance in the 5000 meter run.
Junior Skye Ellis and senior Anna Hightower were both placed in the second heat. Both Northwestern competitors started off the heat slowly — through 200 meters, Ellis was all the way down in 11th, and Hightower was in sixth. Even after another lap, neither appeared to be making a chase for glory. At the 600 meter mark, Ellis had only moved up to ninth, and Hightower had dropped to eighth.
Those positions held for another lap, but after the first kilometer was in the books, Ellis began to make her move. Both she and Hightower snuck past a competitor to bring themselves to eighth and seventh through 1400 meters. Then on the next lap, Ellis erupted, with a time of 1:17.96 (her fastest lap of the day to that point). The surge boosted Ellis up to fifth in the heat, though it also pushed Hightower back to eighth.
Ellis continued to climb the standings, passing another pair of competitors over the next 1200 meters. Through three kilometers, the Wildcat sensation had risen from 11th to third. Hightower, meanwhile, had put up a performance to rival Ellis’ over those laps. After passing four runners in that time frame, Hightower had reached fourth place, and was only a quarter of a second behind Ellis.
With the Northwestern runners nipping at each other’s heels, the next few laps became all about maintaining position. Hightower held onto fourth place like it was covered in super glue, while Ellis continued to find different gears. At the 3400 meter mark, there were only two runners ahead of Ellis. By the time she reached the 3800 meter mark, she had surpassed both.
It wasn’t smooth sailing for Ellis, though. Hightower, who was still in fourth at the time, was less than eight-tenths of a second behind Ellis. In the cramped battle for podium spots, every step became paramount. Ellis seemingly found enough gas in the tank to separate herself, with a penultimate lap of 1:15:88 giving her almost a full second of breathing room from second place.
Unfortunately for Ellis, Geneseo’s Penelope Greene had saved her energy perfectly. Greene, who had started the race in fourth and never dropped below that spot, was over a second behind Ellis as the final lap began. As soon as she heard the bell, Greene began rocketing to a different level. She ran the final 400 meters in just 1:10.76, the fastest lap of anyone in the second heat by a wide margin. When the smoke cleared off the track, Greene had crossed the tape with nearly a full second of cushion over Ellis.
On the bright side, Ellis maintained her pace beautifully and was able to cross the line in 16:15.62, almost exactly a second ahead of third-place Jasmine Trott. Ellis finished second in the heat, but her time was good enough for 14th overall. Hightower, meanwhile, had built herself nearly seven seconds of cushion on fifth place by the final lap, and was able to cruise to a fourth-place finish with ease. Hightower’s final time of 16:24.56 was also top-20 at the meet — she slotted in at 18th overall.
And of course, both personal and program records were made again. Ellis broke her personal best in the 5000 meter (which she had set merely a month earlier) by 17 seconds. Hightower, shattered her season-best 5000 meter time by almost 20 seconds. Ellis’ time is also a top-five run in Northwestern history — it’s the fourth fastest outdoor 5000 meter any Wildcat has ever run.
With the statement made in Pennsylvania, the outdoor track season is almost at its end. Northwestern has one final meet before the season officially comes to a close until cross country action picks up in September. The Wildcats will take on the Wisconsin Twilight in Madison next Friday night.