BRIGHTON, MASSACHUSETTS, March 13–16 — If you’re a prep distance running fan today wondering why you’d never heard of Katy Zang (Teays Valley, Ashville, Ohio) before now, don’t fret. Outside of her home state, few but the hardest of hardcore followers were familiar with her before March 6, when she shocked with a 35-second PR to win her indoor state 3200 in 9:42.84.
Now after an eye-popping HSR 9:37.15 for 2M Friday — taking down Mary Cain’s 2013 standard — followed by a 4:35.02 mile triumph Sunday, the world is discovering this Indiana-bound senior at the same time she is discovering herself.
Overcoming depression, injuries and anxiety and “just having fun” has been a big part of unlocking national class potential that had revealed itself as at least as far back as the fall of ’24. Says Zang, “If you are not having fun, you are not going to succeed.”
That season she had several 5K XC performances between 16:50–17:15, but was waylaid at the end by a stress fracture. When she missed qualifying for Brooks XC nationals this past fall (13th in the Midwest region), she bounced back 3 weeks later and won the RunningLane title (17:04) — a breakthrough on a bigger stage.
A strong winter of relatively injury-free training, positivity and confidence-building ensued, with a 10:17.56 for 3200 in late January confirming she was on the right track.
“The sky is the limit for her,” Zach Frank, Zang’s coach at Teays Valley, told the Columbus Dispatch. “I think she’s the most talented kid aerobically in the nation in high school.”
Zang was then invited to run Sunday’s mile, even though she hadn’t registered or, technically, qualified for it. Of course, her newfound ability — she crossed the mile mark in Friday’s deuce in about 4:43 — made her an obvious candidate.
New Balance actually recruited a pacemaker for the race — elite prep 800/1K standout Charlize-Trinity McKenzie — to hit 2:18 at halfway, but Zang could hardly wait. She ran on McKenzie’s outside shoulder and forced the pace as she hit finish-line splits of 65.62 and 2:15.77 and built a huge lead. She slowed somewhat in the second half, but had enough to hold off the hard close of Abby Hennessy (Academy, Westford, Massachusetts), 4:35.02–4:36.74.
After the mile, Zang, with her excitement fully evident, declared, “It feels amazing to be up here and I am speechless, honestly. All glory to God. I don’t know what just happened this weekend. I won the 2-mile and here I am. Here I am!”
Two other national HS records were set in Boston; neither was a big surprise, but the margin by which Union Catholic’s girls crushed the distance medley standard Friday was jaw-dropping, to say the least.
Give UC Coach Mike McCabe credit for switching it up: Instead of putting his top distance runner, Paige Sheppard, on anchor, he placed her in the leadoff spot. She answered with a scorching 3:19.27 — which might be the fastest 1200 leg ever by a schoolgirl and is only 3 seconds slower than the fastest-ever by an NCAA runner.
Sheppard’s teammates backed her up with carries of 55.31, 2:09.98 and 4:41.58. The result was a soul-crushing 11:06.13, an HSR by 11 seconds and more than 36 seconds ahead of runner-up Concordia Lutheran (Fort Wayne, Indiana).
“I was really excited to run the 12; I’ve never really run it before,” said Sheppard. “And I kind of got the opportunity to cheer my team on, which I don’t usually get when I’m anchoring.”
Sheppard also shone in her individual events, taking Saturday’s 800 decisively in 2:04.25 (she was the HSL coming in at 2:02.81) and then running 3rd in the mile behind Zang Sunday.
Meanwhile, with Union Catholic focusing on the DMR, its 4 x 800 “rivalry” with IMG (Bradenton, Florida) — every bit as hot on the girls’ side as the boys — took a back seat. So the HSR-holders (8:40.07 at Millrose) watched as their Sunshine State counterparts ripped an 8:44.74, No. 2 all time.
The Bullis (Potomac, Maryland) girls came into Sunday’s 4 x 200 with eyes on improving their HSR of 1:34.26, but the squad from Florida’s Montverde Academy (already No. 2 all-time) had other ideas. Thanks in large part to Dasia Reed’s sizzling 22.81 anchor, they snipped the Bullis standard by 0.01 and left them behind at 1:34.55.
Bullis had the last word in the sprint relays, though. As the boys had done, the Bulldog girls finished the meet with a 4×4 triumph in a season-leading 3:40.55.
With Texas’s dominant Maxwell twins competing at Nike Indoor this weekend, Sianni Wynn (Pennsauken, New Jersey) took center stage in the girls’ dashes. She edged super frosh Zhoe Holt (Bradford, Charlotte, North Carolina) in the 60, 7.24–7.25, then came back for a more decisive 23.10 triumph in the 200 ahead of Kamryn Tatum (West Bloomfield, Michigan) at 23.35. Wynn improved her PR by 0.27 in the latter, moving to No. 12 all-time.
New national leads were set by Lone Peak (Highland, Utah) in the 4 x Mile at 19:55.17 (No. 4 all-time school); Guilderland (New York) in the sprint medley at 3:56.31; Aydriane Bowden (Kennett, Kennett Square, Pennsylvania) in the pentathlon at 3793 points; and Jordan Hamb (South Shore, Chicago) in the 60H at 8.18.
Sophia Rambo (Grassfield, Chesapeake, Virginia), who topped Athing Mu’s 500 HSR in January, dropped down to the 400 for a 53.82 victory.
On the field, the biggest mark came from a Canadian. Mykayla Scarlett (Markham Central, Ontario) launched a mighty 66-5¼ in the weight, defending her ’25 title and reaching a distance only two U.S. preps have ever beaten.
Katie Blue (Grand Ledge, Michigan) became the first 14-footer from the Mitten State with her 14-½ (4.28) pole vault victory.
NEW BALANCE GIRLS RESULTS
60: 1. Sianni Wynn (Pennsauken, NJ) 7.24; 2. ***Zhoe Holt (Bradford, Charlotte) 7.25;3. Lee Peters (Foundation, Valrico, Fl) 7.30.
200: 1. Wynn 23.10; 2. Kamryn Tatum (West Bloomfield, Mi) 23.35; 3. **Vanessa Waite (Lake Minneola, Minneola, Fl) 23.37.
400: 1. Sophie Rambo (Grassfield, Chesapeake, Va) 53.82; 2. Sophia Castanada (Newberg, Or) 53.86; 3. **Massandje Comara (Hermitage, Henrico, Va) 54.34.
800: 1. *Paige Sheppard (Union Catholic, Scotch Plains, NJ) 2:04.25; 2. Carter Torrence (Western Albemarle, Crozet, Va) 2:06.07; 3. **Kaitlyn Estep (Gibbons, Raleigh) 2:06.10; 4. Jane Hickey (Ursuline, New Rochelle, NY) 2:06.16.
Mile: 1. Katy Zang (Teays Valley, Ashville, Oh) 4:35.02 (6,9 HS);
2. Abby Hennessy (Academy, Westford) 4:36.74; 3. Sheppard 4:38.29; 4. Estep 4:38.79.
2M: 1. Zang 9:37.15 HSR (old HSR 9:38.68 Mary Cain [Bronxville, NY] ’13) (5:53.2 HSR —old, 5:57.76 Katelyn Tuohy [North Rockland, Thiells, NY] ’19); (8:58.8 HSR—old 9:01.81 Tuohy ’18);
2. Hennessy 9:52.55; 3. **Natasza Dudek (Pioneer, Ann Arbor) 9:52.57; 4. Maggie McCormick (Bay Shore, NY) 9:57.35.
5000: 1. *Mia Sirois (Barrington, Il) 15:58.06 (9, 10 HS);
2. Allison Lee (West Windsor-Plainsboro North, Plainsboro, NJ) 16:09.61; 3. Emma Hoffman (Otsego, Mi) 16:09.65;
4. Elena Aldrink (Olentangy Liberty, Powell, Oh) 16:13.63.
60HH: 1. Jordan Hamb (South Shore, Chicago) 8.18; 2. Jasmine Jackson (Winslow, Atco, NJ) 8.20; 3. Emmanuella Edozien (Natick) 8.40.
MileW: 1. Samantha Benson-Tyler (Schreiber, Port Washington, NY) 7:30.23; 2. *Madigan White (Newfield, NY) 7:32.54.
Relay Events
4 x 200: 1. Academy, Montverde, Fl 1:34.25 HSR (old record 1:34.26 Bullis [Potomac, Md] ’25) (Howell, Rodriguez, Hudson, Reed 22.81);
2. Bullis 1:34.55 (4 HS);
3. St. James, Springfield, Va 1:35.51; 4. Oak Park, Mi 1:37.23.
4 x 400: 1. Bullis 3:40.55; 2. Academy 3:42.08; 3. Winslow 3:43.38; 4. St. James 3:43.64.
4 x 800: 1. IMG, Bradenton, Fl 8:44.74 (2 HS);
2. Penn Charter, Philadelphia 8:55.20; 3. Padua, Wilmington, De 9:06.48.
4 x Mile: 1. Lone Peak, Highland, Ut 19:55.17 (6 HS);
2. Robinson 20:07.21; 3. Shenendehowa, Clifton Park, NY 20:09.90; 4. Padua 20:10.39.
SpMed: 1. Guilderland, Guilderland Center, NY 3:56.51; 2. Oak Park 3:57.21; 3. Bullis 3:58.00.
DisMed: 1. Union Catholic 11:06.13 HSR (old record 11:17.50 Cuthbertson [Waxhaw, NC] ‘24) (Sheppard 3:19.27,Chadwick 55.31, Robisky 2:09.97, Thompson 4:41.58);
2. Concordia, Ft. Wayne 11:42.84; 3. Carmel, In 11:46.83; 4. Shenendehowa 11:47.97.
4 x 55H: 1. Bullis 31.41 (10 HS);
2. Nansemond River 32.11; 3. Union Catholic 32.59.
Field Events
HJ: 1. *Kira Smith (Warren, Indianapolis, In) 5-8¾.
PV: 1. Katie Blue (Grand Ledge, Mi) 14-½; 2. *Amelia Smith (Guerin, Noblesville, In) 13-8½; 3. Izzy Robbins (Grand Haven, Mi) 13-4½.
LJ: 1. *Ciara Williams (Lexington, SC) 20-5; 2. Brooklyn Lyttle (Seton, Bladensburg, Md) 20-1¾; 3. *Zenobia Witt (Eaglecrest, Centennial, Co) 20-1½.
TJ: 1. Michailyn Rose (Nansemond River, Suffolk, Va) 42-9¾; 2. Apria Smith (Chantilly, Va) 42-4; 3. Seannah Parsons (Randolph, NJ) 41-3¼.
SP: 1. Sophia Rivera (Ephrata, Pa) 46-6; 2. Hannah Nuhfer (Delsea, Franklinville, NJ) 46-3¼; 3. Ainsley Bramer (Coppell, Tx) 45-11¾.
Wt: 1. Mykayla Scarlett’ (Can) 66-5¼; 2. Vanessa Jones (Toll Gate, Warwick, RI) 58-½; 3. *Bethany Preusse (Thorndale, Tx) 57-11¾.
Pent: 1. *Aydriane Bowden (Kennett, Kennett Square, Pa) 3793; 2. *Anna Keeney (Ravenwood, Brentwood, Tn) 3667; 3. Ella Michelitch (Minisink Valley, Slate Hill, Pa) 3645.
