The nation’s fastest high school 600 runner parachuted into the the sport
Some kids sign up for the track team out of nowhere. Many of the best have been training with their mom or dad since they were little.
Gabby Hernandez parachuted into E.O. Smith coach Darren Dale’s life.
“I was out for a run,” Dale said. “There was a girl at the middle school, she was running with one of the (training) parachutes. I didn’t know her. Her mom was there. We had a conversation and she said she’s going to E.O. Smith next year. She looked like she was quite dedicated.”
“Coach Dale saw me and introduced himself,” Hernandez said. “I’m like, ‘Oh, OK, so when I go to high school I’ll try out for your track team and see how it goes.’”
Hernandez, now a junior, didn’t compete in athletics until middle school. Asked about her interests, she answered, ‘Art, writing … I didn’t do any sports. My mom (Maria) said, ‘OK, you have to do something,”
She joined the cross country team.
“I tried it out,” Gabby said. “I’m thinking, ‘This isn’t that bad.’”
This isn’t bad, became very good and last June outdoors and again last Saturday indoors this became excellent.
Hernandez turned in the fastest time nationally in the 600 so far this winter season with a 1:33.27 in the SCC Coaches Invitational at the Floyd Little Athletic Center.
Granted, many states do not have indoor track as a varsity sport. Top runners often compete independently at larger meets that typically hold races at 800.
Still, this was the third fastest 600 all-time in Connecticut. There were 70 teams at the SCC Coaches Invitational meet and Hernandez won the race by nearly six seconds. The time was also 3.43 seconds faster than the time Brittani Westberry of Windsor ran to win the CIAC State Open last year.
Top time in the nation. Not too shabby.
“I still don’t think it has fully sunk in,” Hernandez said. “Hey, it is crazy to think about it’s the fastest time.
Hernandez ran a 1:38.45 in December and with it, Dale said, came a recognition that she wasn’t strategically maximizing her potential in the race.
“She is more comfortable not front running,” Dale said. “She prefers to let other people set the pace. We changed tactics where she might be in front. She ran a fast pace. She’s in good company in Connecticut historically with that time and she can go faster.”
Precious Holmes of Hillhouse set the state 600 record of 1:30.79 at the 2012 New England Championship. So there’s that.
Hernandez said to this point she hasn’t set overarching season goals.
“Honestly, I don’t,” she said. “I get a time and then I see how much I can drop it.”
It certainly worked last spring as a sophomore. Within a month, Hernandez won the Class L 800 in 2:16.12, the State Open 800 in 2:12.88 and the New England Championship in 2:10.63. Each time she edged Simsbury’s Olivia Birney, who has gone on to run for Yale.
Hernandez took 14th at the New Balance Nationals Outdoor with a 2:10.63.
While Connecticut track eyes were fixed to a classic State Open battle in the 100, 200 and 400 between Danbury’s Alanna Smith and Housatonic Regional’s Sydney Segalla, Hernandez came roaring down the stretch to overtake Birney in the 800. Still, it flew under the radar that day. And so, to an extent, did her New England title. She wasn’t named GameTimeCT first team.
So the No. 1 national time Saturday rang bells.
“I haven’t played it up too much, but her teammates do,” Dale said. “It’s important she gets the recognition. I always tell people it’s somewhat better to try to ground kids, but Gabby’s not the type to get too carried away with anything.
“Her talent is not only her ability to run, her temperament is really unusual for a young athlete. What I mean is she listens really well. And at the moment, the big stage isn’t too much, which is really special.”
When pointed out that Gabby seems to have a happy-go-lucky nonchalance, Dale said, “Off the track, I’d say that’s fairly accurate.”
The CCC championship is Saturday, followed by the Class L meet, the State Open and the New Englands. Hernandez will run
at the New Balance National Indoors in March at its new multi-sports facility in Boston.
“That track is really nice,” Hernandez said. “They even have a warmup track.”
There’s also no 600. So Dale said she’ll run the 800 and maybe the 400 off her 600 training. She ran a 2:14.08 in the 800 in Boston earlier this month at the Pre-Nationals Tuneup.
Hernandez hasn’t left her cross country roots even if they haven’t blossomed into her great strength. She finished 12th in the State Open in November. She was named honorable mention on the GameTimeCT All-State team.
“I do it for fitness and to keep doing something over the fall season,” she said. “I feel like I’m fairly competitive in it, but it’s not my main sport. I do like it. I try to pace it.
“A lot of what I do is about the team. They’re sisters and brothers. It’s like my second family. If I
didn’t have a team, I don’t know if I’d be able to do it. If I’m not motivated or don’t want to do something, they’re like, ‘Gabby c’mon, you can do this now.’ They help push me and we make each other better.”
One payback is Hernandez gives the E.O. Smith relays a huge boost.
She laughs when asked when she could be special in track.
“I guess after Saturday, I thought I might be pretty good.”
Dale, who is originally from New Zealand, teaches in the Exercise and Sport Science program at Eastern Connecticut. He was an outstanding runner and part of the 4 x 400 relay team that set the New Zealand national record.
His philosophy as a coach is, “Let’s make each other better.” And part of that is not stressing and risk burning out young athletes.
“We haven’t done a lot of training for the 1600 with Gabby,” Dale said. “That cam wait. I prefer to keep my athletes at lower distances, figuring she’ll probably move up when she goes to college. I want her to have room to grow.
“As far as mileage for an 800 runner, I would say she’s on the low end. With respect to the intensity, we do one or two workouts a week that are pretty challenging. I would think she be up there among the state. They’re demanding because of the speed aspect. She does recover quickly from speed work which indicates a natural fitness in terms of her recovery.”
Does cross country help Gabby in the 800?
“As a physiologist, it’s a question that has plagued us for years,” Dale said. “It doesn’t hurt. Do is help her in the 800? Slightly. It certainly helps with fitness and would help her in the 1600.”One of the longer standing girls state outdoor records is the 2:05.54 Liz Mueller of Waterford ran at the TAC Junior Nationals. What do runner and coach see for her coming junior outdoor season.
“I’ve got to get my 400 number down first,” Hernandez said. “I don’t want to put a set number on what I can do. Definitely trying to drop it as far as I can. Every second.”
Hernandez ran a 57.23 outdoors last spring, a time that would have given her a fourth in the New Englands and a 58.74 this winter indoors.
“I have a time in mind,” Dale said. “I think 2:08 is reasonable. If she can improve her 400 split, 2:08 will be entirely doable.”