 | The topic of this article may not meet Wikipedia's notability guideline for sports and athletics .(January 2024) |
Debbie Heald is a former American track and field athlete, known for her success in middle-distance races.
| The topic of this article may not meet Wikipedia's notability guideline for sports and athletics .(January 2024) |
Debbie Heald is a former American track and field athlete, known for her success in middle-distance races.
Heald is the daughter of Richard and Ernestine Heald. She grew up in La Mirada, California. [1]
At the age of eleven, Heald was a member of the Hutchinson Track Club. [1] At a meet in Lancaster, she finished a mile race with a time of 5:33.9, which at the time was the fastest time recorded for a girl of her age. [2] By the time she was fourteen, Heald had won three state running championships and five district Amateur Athletic Union titles. She also held two national crowns . [3]
As a 16-year-old junior at Neff High School in La Mirada, California, [4] [ self-published source ] [5] Heald defeated the then-current 1500m world record holder Tamara Pangelova of the USSR on March 17, 1972, at the Richmond Coliseum. [6] [7] [8] Her win was a significant victory as it was during the height of the Cold War and prior to this the Soviets had predominantly dominated the sport. [9] In doing so, Heald also set a new women's world indoor mile record at 4 minutes 38.5 seconds. [1] [4]
Heald's American high school girls' indoor mile record stood for over 40 years, until finally broken on January 26, 2013, by Mary Cain of Bronxville, NY. [10] [11] Until that time, Heald's record was the longest-standing of any girls' high school record. [12] [13]
Heald attended California State University, Fullerton, graduating with a degree in education. [9] Heald continued to train throughout her college years, but her career was progressively hampered by repeated injuries and tendonitis from overtraining, as well as a diagnosis of schizophrenia. [1]
In 2002, Heald carried the Olympic torch in Los Angeles on its nationwide tour in advance of the Winter Olympic Games at Salt Lake City. [9] [14]
The Millrose Games are an annual indoor athletics meet held each February in New York City. Among the world's most prestigious indoor track meets, the games started taking place at the Armory in Washington Heights in 2012, after having taken place in Madison Square Garden from 1914 to 2011.
Jordan Melissa Hasay is an American distance runner. She grew up in Arroyo Grande, California, and attended Mission College Preparatory High School in San Luis Obispo. She was unanimously selected 2008 Girls High School Athlete of the Year by the voting panel at Track and Field News. In March 2009, she became the ninth high school athlete and third woman on the cover of Track and Field News magazine. She attended the University of Oregon, where she studied business administration and competed on the cross country and track and field teams earning 18 All-American honors, 2011 Mile and 3,000 meters NCAA titles. Her father was a high school basketball star in Pennsylvania, and her mother was a national level swimmer in her native England. Jordan Hasay is no longer coached by Alberto Salazar due to his suspension.
Paul Richard Cummings was a world-class middle and long distance runner who ran competitively from the 1,500 meters to the marathon, breaking several American records and one world record. His ability to have a middle distance runner's kick and also have the stamina to compete in distances up to the marathon place him as one of the most versatile American track and road racers of his era.
Tori Anthony is an American pole vaulter from Woodside, California and the holder of the national indoor and outdoor records for high school women at 14' 2-1/2" and 14' 1" respectively.
Patricia Susan "PattiSue" Plumer is an American former middle-distance and long-distance runner. She is a two-time Olympian, finishing 13th in the 3000-m final in 1988 in Seoul, before going on to finish 10th in the 1500-m final and fifth in the 3000-m final in 1992 in Barcelona. She won the 3000 meters title at the 1990 Goodwill Games. Her 5000-m best of 15:00.00 in 1989 is a former American record.
Frances Anne "Francie" Larrieu Smith is an American track and field athlete. She was the flagbearer at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona for the United States of America. Larrieu Smith was the third female American athlete to make five American Olympic teams, behind the six of fencer Jan York-Romary and Track and Field's Willye White. The feat was later equaled by basketball player Teresa Edwards, track and field's Gail Devers, cyclist/speedskater Chris Witty and swimmer Dara Torres. After one of the longest elite careers on record, she retired from that level of competition.
Polly Anne Plumer is an American track and field athlete who set the National High School record holder in the Mile run at 4:35.24, in open competition at UCLA May 16, 1982 while a student at University High School. That distance is no longer run in high school competition since the NFHS converted to metric distances in 1980, but it is still an international record event. Her record lasted over 30 years until it was surpassed on January 26, 2013 by Mary Cain, indoors, running 4:32.78 at the New Balance Games. Cain later improved her own mark to 4:28.25, also indoors at the Millrose Games. Because Cain's marks were set on an indoor track, which is generally considered to be more difficult, they were not recognized by Track and Field News the ratifier of high school records in non-NFHS sanctioned events, so Plumer retains the record as published. Christine Babcock, born 8 years and 3 days after Plumer's record, running for Woodbridge High School, also in Irvine, took the record in the more commonly run but shorter 1600 meters to an equitable 4:33.82 in 2008. Babcock's record was improved to 4:33.29 in 2014 by Alexa Efraimson.
Mary Cecilia Cain is an American professional middle distance runner from Bronxville, New York. Cain was the 2014 World Junior Champion in the 3000 meter event. She is the youngest American athlete ever to represent the United States at a track and field World Championships meet after competing in the 2013 World Championships in Athletics in Moscow aged 17 years and 3 months.
Irene Romona Obera is an American track and field athlete, specializing in sprinting events. Over an extended career, she has set numerous world records and has won numerous world championships. She is currently a member of the W70 world record holding 4x100 metres relay team. She also holds the current American record in the W60 and W75 100 metres and the W75 200 metres.
Alexa Efraimson is an American former professional middle distance runner from Camas, Washington who competed for Nike. Efraimson is training and in graduate school to become a Registered Dietitian in 2022-24. During the 2014 indoor and outdoor season, as a junior, she set a pair of U.S. high-school records, breaking Mary Cain's 2013 mark in the indoor 3,000 meters (9:02.10) with a time of 9:00.16 and running 4:33.29 in the 1,600 meters to shave 0.53 seconds from Christine Babcock's 4:33.82, set in 2008. Efraimson captured the bronze medal in the 1,500 meters at the 2013 World (U18) Youth Championships in Donetsk, Ukraine.
Kate Van Buskirk is a Canadian Olympian, cross-country and track runner, with 18 years National Team experience. She won bronze for Canada at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in the 1500 m. She began hosting and producing The Shakeout Podcast in 2018, for Canadian Running, and was named as an Athlete Director of Athletics Canada, in August 2019. She continues in this role as of August 2020.
Deborah Dawn "Debbie" Scott-Bowker is a Canadian former middle- and long-distance runner. A three-time Olympian for Canada, she reached the 1500 m final in 1984, and both the 1500 m and 3000 m finals in 1988. She was also a three-time World Championship finalist, reaching the 1500 m and 3000 m finals in 1987, and the 1500 m final in 1991.
Katelyn Tuohy is an American professional middle- and long-distance runner.
Taylor Ewert is an American long-distance runner and college track and field athlete for the University of Arkansas and Michigan State University. In high school, she set numerous records and was the cross country OHSAA Division I individual state champion in 2019, representing Beavercreek High School. Ewert committed to the University of Arkansas later that year, and in 2020, she was named the Gatorade National Girls Track and Field Athlete of the Year.
Jenna Hutchins, is a high school and "Under 20" record-breaking American long distance runner from Johnson City, Tennessee. She ranked within the global top 100 for 5000 metres athletes in 2020.
Weini Kelati Frezghi is an Eritrean-born American middle- and long-distance runner. She claimed asylum in the United States in July 2014 and subsequently achieved multiple victories in state- and national-level competitions while attending Heritage High School in Leesburg, Virginia. While competing for the University of New Mexico, Kelati won the 2019 NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships. In June 2021, she became a U.S. citizen and began competing as an American. Kelati set an American record of 1:06.25 for the half marathon in January 2024. She runs professionally for Under Armour on the group Dark Sky Distance.