Running in her hometown certainly suits Belmont’s Ellie Shea.
The Emerging Elite Track Club starlet, who decimated the two mile field on Friday with a stellar time of 9:49.82, easily defended her 5K title Saturday in a personal best of 15:46.28 at the New Balance Nationals at The Track.
Donned in blue sunglasses that she said help her focus and relax, she ran alone in the front of both races. She finished out the 5K with a blazing 3:06 over the final 1K to garner her second gold medal.
“I was confident I would be able to pull off the double,” said Shea. “I’m happy to be close to home and I have a lot of family here. I’m pleased with my performances. It’s hard to run out front like that but it’s something every runner should learn to do.”
Catholic Memorial’s Chris Sullivan came into the four-day meet fit and ready to race. The Villanova-bound talent used his strong closing speed on on the way to destroying his personal best in the 5K by 17 seconds with a blistering 14:31.30.
Sullivan, who ran invitational meets throughout the winter, started his weekend with a 9:14.18 two mile on Friday. He stayed close to Framingham’s Sam Burgess and Westford’s Paul Bergeron in the early going of the 5K before turning over a fast final 1K of 2:46.50 to clinch seventh place.
“I sort of stuck with Sam and Paul and started pushing with a (kilometer) to go,” said Sullivan. “My kicks are usually pretty good.”
Burgess, the Meet of Champions two mile champion, wrapped up a successful winter campaign with a very respectable 10th place, 14:43.0 finish in the 5K. Burgess started at the back of the pack and made his way through the field over the 25-lap race.
He finished just behind Bergeron, who was ninth in 14:36.05. Burgess was coming off the two mile on Friday, where he placed 23rd with a quick 9:08.74. Oliver Ames’ Craig Sarney was 25th with his 9:09.20.
Burgess didn’t have the spring in his legs that he normally has, but still wasn’t far off personal bests in either race. The season ended with him being the lone two-miler in Massachusetts to break nine minutes.
“I guess it’s nice to be able to call 9:08 an off day,” Burgess said. “They were both hard races. I thought I was in a lot better shape. I just didn’t have it this weekend. Everybody was out pretty hard (in the 5K). I stayed back and wanted to run consistent.”