Carmen Carlos Edges Stephanie Schappert
(This article is an excerpt from a larger article written by Jason Byrne - Florida Runners. For the complete article go to https://fl.milesplit.com/articles/45270 )
The anticipated race of the night was clearly Shelby Hayes versus Stephanie Schappert, but it never happened. Going in on paper Schappert was to have a pretty easy time locking down the victory in the Girls 1600... but you can't always count on paper. Carmen Carlos, a freshman from Alabama, has showed a lot of talent including running in the 17s for 5K in cross and sweeping the 1600 and 3200 at the state meet in the "Yellowhammer State" (which is apparently the Alabama state nickname... who knew?!). But Carlos had never broken 5 minutes before!
Well she did tonight! She shaved 10 seconds off of her PR and sat back behind the leaders for three laps. Then on the last lap she hammered it and took Schappert all the way to the line and got her by a shoulder to finish with a time of 4:51... a PR for both girls!
Schappert, spent after the battle, opted out of the 800 showdown and will regroup for Nationals.
