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50 Tickets to Brooklyn: Girls #5

mixcspeedratings

THE SUMMER PREVIEW

Accomplishments & Accolades

  • 800m – 2:16
  • 1600m – 4:52
  • 3200m – 10:37
  • 5k (XC) – 17:43

  • 3rd Place – D2 State
  • 16th Place – 2023
  • 2nd Place – Region 13
    • 3x Top-20
  • 2nd Place – SMAC
    • 3x Top-5
  • 6th Place – D1 State 1600m
  • 3rd Place – MITS 1600/3200m
  • Region 3 & SMAC 3200m Champion

Ratings Throughout the Years

GradeNameTimeTeamRatingMeetDateYear
11Elena Figueroa17:46.6St. Joseph158.8Division 2 State4-Nov2023
11Elena Figueroa17:59.0St. Joseph155.0Region 1328-Oct2023
11Elena Figueroa18:34.9St. Joseph139.7SMAC Championship21-Oct2023
11Elena Figueroa18:35.4St. Joseph142.9Rock n’ Run12-Oct2023
11Elena Figueroa17:43.2St. Joseph163.6Portage7-Oct2023
11Elena Figueroa18:06.1St. Joseph151.3Berrien County30-Sep2023
11Elena Figueroa17:43.9St. Joseph163.4Cougar Falcon23-Sep2023
11Elena Figueroa17:44.0St. Joseph164.0Ottawa Hills15-Sep2023
11Elena Figueroa19:19.4St. Joseph148.9St. Joseph22-Aug2023
11Elena Figueroa18:19.9St. Joseph162.7Portage Early Bird18-Aug2023
GradeNameTimeTeamRatingMeetDateYear
10Elena Figueroa19:05.3St. Joseph136.6Division 2 State5-Nov2022
10Elena Figueroa18:56.8St. Joseph135.4Region 1329-Oct2022
10Elena Figueroa18:37.9St. Joseph144.7SMAC Championship22-Oct2022
10Elena Figueroa19:11.7St. Joseph131.4Rock n Run13-Oct2022
10Elena Figueroa18:41.1St. Joseph142.6Portage8-Oct2022
10Elena Figueroa19:21.6St. Joseph130.5SMAC West 25-Oct2022
10Elena Figueroa19:06.0St. Joseph130.0Berrien County1-Oct2022
10Elena Figueroa18:30.2St. Joseph143.6Cougar Falcon24-Sep2022
10Elena Figueroa19:26.5St. Joseph139.5SMAC West 121-Sep2022
10Elena Figueroa18:45.7St. Joseph142.8Ottawa Hills16-Sep2022
10Elena Figueroa18:52.1St. Joseph141.3Lakeview10-Sep2022
GradeNameTimeTeamRatingMeetDateYear
9Elena Figueroa19:32.1St. Joseph126.3Division 1 State6-Nov2021
9Elena Figueroa19:40.4St. Joseph120.5Region 329-Oct2021
9Elena Figueroa20:03.0St. Joseph120.3SMAC Championship23-Oct2021
9Elena Figueroa19:55.8St. Joseph119.1Rock n Run14-Oct2021
9Elena Figueroa19:29.5St. Joseph134.2Portage9-Oct2021
9Elena Figueroa20:03.8St. Joseph118.7SMAC West 26-Oct2021
9Elena Figueroa18:55.7St. Joseph127.1Berrien County2-Oct2021
9Elena Figueroa19:06.8St. Joseph139.1Cougar Falcon25-Sep2021
9Elena Figueroa19:52.0St. Joseph121.7SMAC West 122-Sep2021
9Elena Figueroa18:52.5St. Joseph148.8Ottawa Hills17-Sep2021
9Elena Figueroa19:14.1St. Joseph141.3Lakeview11-Sep2021
9Elena Figueroa20:00.4St. Joseph123.9Harper Creek Optimist28-Aug2021
9Elena Figueroa20:34.3St. Joseph128.2St. Joseph24-Aug2021

The Rundown

Parked far in the southwest corner of our State, Elena Figueroa quietly goes about her business. No influencing on social media, no grandiose proclamations. Just dutifully doing her work, ascending into one of the better girls in Michigan.

At the time that I wrote last year’s ticket, Elena was known more for her track prowess than cross. Well, her fall season put an end to that. After a few meets where her and Gail Vaikutis cruised through the line, one and two, she let it all out at Ottawa Hills. Going into her junior year, her XC PR was 18:30. When she left Riverside Park on that Friday, Figueroa was well under-18, 17:44.

She summoned a number of those efforts when needed. 17:59 at Regionals, 17:43’s at Cougar Falcon and Portage, 17:46 at State. When not needed, she wisely held off the gas a little. By season’s end, the ability to speed through the course resulted in a 3rd place finish in D2, her second All-State and 13 spots better than her sophomore version.

All this talk about cross, do you think she lost her speed? Heck no. Despite hovering around 5-flat at Regionals and GR Elite, Elena found a way to muster out a 4:52 in the D1 State 1600m, matching 2023’s best and laying down the 7th best time in Michigan.

Writings and rankings revel in the anticipation, hype, drama. Elena’s counterpart to that, the silent consistency, is a much appreciated characteristic in our running environment.

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Published by mixcspeedratings