When 14-year-old Ellie Bailey began competing in the 400 meters three months ago, she told her mom she was going to qualify for nationals in the event.
“I laughed at her and said there’s no possible way,” her mother Allison Nelson recalled. “[I said] you don’t run year-round. You’re not part of a club, you haven’t started running since age 5 like all these other kids. There’s no possible way you’re going to nationals in the 400.”
Sure enough, Bailey made good on her promise. Bailey is one of three Mercer Island girls competing at the USA Track and Field Junior Olympic national championships, which take place July 25 through July 31 in Sacramento. Also competing will be Mercer Island High School junior Kayla Lee and 14-year-old Maya Virdell.
It’s quite the whirlwind achievement for Bailey, who competed in track and cross country throughout her middle school years, but her primary event was the 800 meters. She had only run the 400 one other time before taking it up during her eighth grade year this past spring.
“The first time I ran the 400, it was in the 4×400 relay at the seventh grade championships and someone didn’t show up,” Bailey said. “I had never done a relay before. I didn’t know how to do the handoffs and I’m just like, ‘Am I supposed to start running? Am I supposed to grab [the baton]? I don’t know how to run a 400. I don’t know what I’m doing, but I guess I’m just gonna have to do it.'”
“She annihilated it,” said Islander Middle School sprints coach Dominique Davis.
Davis began working with Bailey after she switched to the 400. He said since April, he’s seen Bailey shed nearly five seconds off her 400 time.
“It takes people almost a year to take a half-second off if they’re getting the right training, and that’s successful,” he said. “She’s doing something that’s totally amazing.”
In her journey to the national championships, Bailey made the top-eight regional cut, placing fourth in her 13-14 age group at the USATF Pacific Northwest Association Junior Olympic championships. She qualified for nationals by placing in the top five at regionals, tying for third in the 400 and finishing with a personal best time of 61.53.
Bailey said her goal for the Junior Olympic nationals is to reach the semifinal round.
“I’ll have to break a minute for that, and my time right now is 1:01, so I’m close,” she said. “I’ve been working toward that all season. It’s been my goal not only to make it to the Junior Olympics, but I wanna break that minute.”
From state to Sacramento
Lee qualified for two events at the Junior Olympics, placing first in her 15-16 age group of the 400 (56.71) and second in the 200 (24.98) at the regional meet. Both times were personal bests.
As a sophomore, Lee was a 3A state qualifier for Mercer Island in the 200 and 400 meter sprints, as well as the 4×100 and 4×400 meter relays. She reached the medal stand at the state meet in May as a runner-up in the 200, was third in the 400 and helped Mercer Island’s 4×400 relay team to a third-place finish. This past spring marked her second-straight trip to the track and field state championships.
Lee said she originally got into cross country and track during middle school as a way to build endurance for soccer. As it turned out, she dropped soccer to focus more on cross country and track when she began high school.
“My very first [high school] race, I ran a 59 in the 400. But in middle school, I was running 63,” Lee said. “I was kind of surprised that the first time I ran my own 400, I was able to PR by so much. I didn’t really expect to do as well as I did, but I’m glad I did.”
In preparing for the Junior Olympics, Lee said she trains between four and five days a week with her SeaTown Express track club. Running also serves as her primary mode of transportation.
“When I go on runs, I usually run from place to place because I can’t drive yet,” she said.
This year will mark Lee’s first appearance at the Junior Olympics, and she said she’s looking forward to competing against other top athletes who are all the same age. Her goal is to set personal records in both of her events.
“I’ve been really close to 55 [in the 400]. I really, really want to get to 55 in Sacramento and the low 24s in the 200,” she said. “I’m also really excited to get gear. I really love getting new T-shirts and new jackets at different events.”
Running with the pack
Virdell will compete in two relay events in her 13-14 age group at the Junior Olympic national championships. Virdell and team members Jacquelyn Bostock, Sherifat Sanusi and Avery Patterson will compete in the 4×100 and the 4×400 relays.
Running the final leg of the 4×100, Virdell helped her team finish second at the regional meet with a time of 52.15. Virdell ran the opening leg with her 4×400 team, which also placed second at 4:16.99.
She also competed at regionals in the high jump, tying for ninth place, and the pentathlon, finishing third. Only the top two pentathlon placers advanced to the national championships.
“I think my training has gotten easier because I don’t have to do all the stuff for the pentathlon,” Virdell quipped about preparing for nationals, adding she plans to compete in the heptathlon event next year.
Virdell began running as an elementary student at Seattle’s St. George Parish School. When her family moved to Mercer Island two years ago, she joined Islander Middle School’s track team as a seventh-grader. This year, she began training with Seattle’s High Voltage track club.
Virdell said the rush she gets during competition is what she loves most about track.
“I think it’s just nerve-wracking but it’s also exciting, especially when I’m doing relays,” she said. “When I’m the last leg of the 4×100, you can just hear the crowd roaring.”
Virdell also plays soccer year-round and says the cross-training helps her in both sports with building endurance and remaining quick on her feet.
She said she’s both excited and nervous about competing in the Junior Olympics, and she’s looking forward to meeting and competing against new people from all over the country.
“I’m looking to improve. I hope our relay gets a PR and gets a good standing,” Virdell said. “We’re not expecting to get first, but to get into the top 10 or top eight would be great.”
This story was updated to clarify that Dominique Davis is the sprints coach at Islander Middle School. The previous version listed Davis as the track coach.
