The biggest news out of the DMV Meet of Champions that we learned is that Urbana sophomore Ella Auderset will be running cross country for the first time in this fall. After being one of the state's best middle distance runners over the past two years including a pair of Maryland 4A state titles this year (500 indoors and 800 outdoors), Auderset told us in a post-race interview that instead of playing soccer in the fall as she has done for the past two years, she will be running for the Urbana high school cross country team building up her conditioning and strength for the track season.
Speaking of her race on Sunday night at the University of Maryland, all Auderset did was run her second straight 2:11 meter performance in as many weekends as she followed the pacer through a very brisk 63 second first 400 then held off the rest of the field for a 2:11.82 victory. She ran a 2:11.80 season best last week to win the DMV Meet of the Elite, while her personal best of 2:11.74 comes from last spring as a freshmen at New Balance Nationals.
Speaking of nationals, that is where Auderset will be next weekend seeing if she can take care of that new PR after running consistently off it by fractions of a second for two straight weeks and possibly challenge sub 2:10 if not certainly the next two years of high school. Which those two years will include a much stronger base of cross country training under her belt.
