The Hopkins women’s track team had another impressive performance on April 18 at the Larry Ellis Invitational. Blue Jay senior Maggie Shelton had a record-breaking performance on Friday night, further cementing her place in the record books. Shelton finished the 800-meter race with a time of 2:07.29, beating the former Hopkins record set by Annie Monagle with a time of 2:08.73. Along with the Hopkins record, Shelton bested the conference record of Haverford’s Annick Lamar, 2:08.15, that she set back in 2008, securing a spot in the Centennial Conference record books.
Shelton dominated her heat and finished seventh overall in a field loaded with Division I and club runners. After a season full of standout performances, Shelton is now ranked first in the nation in the 800-meter race.
Shelton was selected as the Centennial Conference Athlete of the Week, along with a teammate, senior Andrew Carey. This is Shelton’s second selection of the year as the Centennial Track Athlete of the Week, after previously receiving the honor during the indoor season on Feb. 3.
Due to her record-breaking performance this past weekend and an incredible season throughout, The News-Letter has chosen Shelton to receive the honor of Athlete of the Week. Shelton was able to take the time out of her busy schedule to generously answer a few questions for the paper:
The News-Letter: After finishing with a time of 2:07.29, you captured both the Hopkins and the Centennial Conference records. What does this accomplishment mean to you?
Maggie Shelton: That was a goal of mine for the season. I was very happy to break into the 2:07 range. I'd love to continue to bring that time down throughout the rest of the season.
N-L: What does your high success mean to your team as you move towards the end of your season?
MS: It will hopefully translate to more points at nationals. I think it shows Hopkins has more to it than an outstanding distance program. The success of Annie, Carey, Megan McDonald, myself and the DMRs proves that our training can produce very successful mid-distance athletes. And I think we will continue to see that success in the future from the up and coming mid-distance girls.
N-L: How has your coach inspired and/or motivated you throughout the season? Especially with your record-breaking performances?
MS: My coaches have motivated me to be more confident in myself. They give me a lot of great opportunities to race a lot of very talented runners like Stanford, Princeton and Penn Relays.
N-L: You are currently ranked first in the nation in the 800-meter. What does this accomplishment mean to you? And what has motivated/guided you to get to this outstanding position?
MS: Hopefully this ranking will help me place highly at Nationals. I'll have some really good competition, especially from Wisconsin-Oshkosh, that I'm not discounting. But hopefully that should lead to really fast times at Nationals.
N-L: What are your team goals heading into the final weeks of the season?
MS: I want to the team as a whole to do their best at conferences. It would be great to see a day full of personal bests and more medaling than last year.
N-L: This being your senior year, what has been the greatest moment or the most “stand-out” moment from your time on the Hopkins women's track team?
MS: I went to California for the first time at the beginning of April with the track team. And we were all really excited about it, so we made a playlist of only songs about California and blasted the music on our trip from the airport to the hotel. The combination of being in California for the first and being accepted to a very competitive meet like Stanford was very cool.
Shelton and the rest of the Hopkins track and field programs will return to the action this weekend as they head to Philadelphia, Pa. and compete at the Penn Relays from April 24 - 26.
