Nearly two weeks after wrapping up her junior Colorado state track and field meet, Summit High School’s Ella Hagen returned to track in order to compete out-of-state at the Hoka Festival of Miles on Thursday, May 30.

Despite being sick during the state track meet, Hagen still managed to display her fitness, taking third in the Class 4A girls 3200-meter run before bouncing back the next day for sixth in the 1600.

After taking some time to recover from the effort she put into the state meet, Hagen traveled to St. Louis, Missouri for a night full of mile-length races featuring some of the best high school distance runners in the nation.

Feeling closer to 100% after her illness, Hagen lined up among 14 other girls from across the country for the Spewak Training High School girls elite mile. With the sun just beginning to set over the St. Louis University High School’s crimson track, the field was quickly introduced to the crowd and the Runnerspace.com livestream before the distance runners found their spot on the starting line. 

Dressed in a bright orange and yellow Hoka top along with a pair of her signature sunglasses, Hagen jolted off the starting line and tried to stay out of trouble as the entire field worked to take the race out fast while jockeying for position. 

After being slightly bumped in the first 200 meters of the race, Hagen found some space to breathe at the outer edge of lane one and pulled herself toward the front of the pack. Through the first 409 meters of the race, Hagen split a time of 1:10.16 to sit comfortably in third place as the race continued to gallop around the track. 

With a pacer working to hammer down the pace, the race field began to string out on the second lap, but Hagen remained fastened to the front of the pack, splitting a time of 2:23.21 at the halfway point of the race. 

With two laps to go, Hagen sat around fifth place and, as the pacer pulled off at the 1-kilometer mark, the vast majority of the runners bunched up for the final lap of the race. 

As the finishing bell rang loud to signify the final lap, runners began to lengthen their strides and gear up for the final kick to the finish line. With anyone having a chance of crossing the finish line in first place, Missouri’s Josie Baker of Kirkwood High School took over the lead and flew down the backstretch in an effort to distance herself from the galloping chase pack. 

With 200-meters left, Baker willed her legs to go faster, but as the chase pack pulled even with her on the homestretch, an all-out sprint to the finish line ensued. Colorado eighth-grader Elin Latta, who is homeschooled, surged to take the lead with around 50-meters to go, but Mountain Vista High School junior Keeghan Edwards edged past her at the finish line to win the race in a time of 4:46.63 for the full mile.

Latta followed a tenth of a second later in 4:46.73 while Hagen closed hard to finish in 4:53.87 for 11th place. Mountain Vista junior Juliet Frum took seventh in 4:48.70, Cherry Creek High School sophomore Emily Cohen took 12th in 4:56.15 and Air Academy High School junior Tessa Walter took 13th in 4:58.04.

Hagen’s finish nearly matched her No. 10 ranking prior to the race and marked a new personal best at the full mile distance. Additionally, Hagen dropped three seconds off her school-record time in the 1600-meter run, clocking 4:51.66 through the 1600-meter mark of the race.

“I was really happy with how it played out,” Hagen said. “Coming out there, my expectation was to put myself out there and enjoy the experience so I had a lot of fun and tried to move with the pack. I don’t have the leg speed yet to hold the moves on the last 300, 400, but it was definitely a good race and everyone was fighting for it.”

Several other Colorado distance runners competed in the Festival of Miles. Liberty Common High School’s Isabel Allori took fourth in the Hoka High School girls championship mile in a time of 4:37.32 while Valor Christian High School’s Dane Eike took 10th in the boys championship mile with a time of 4:04.70.

“It was an incredible opportunity and Hoka did an amazing job at making it something really special,” Hagen said. “I am always kind of amazed at all the opportunities and experiences that running can bring you, and that was definitely one of them.”

Summit junior Josh Shriver will be the next Tiger athlete to race in the late spring. Shriver will race in the boys high school 1500-meter run at Portland Track Festival in Portland, Oregon, from June 8-9, before racing at Nike Track Nationals in Eugene, Oregon, from June 12-15.