Top 10 Stories Of 2017, #5: Arria Minor Clocks 52.05 For 400 Meters


When you run in the 52s for 400 meters, there's going to be a lot of people left in your dust. File photo.

It can be difficult picking a top highlight of Arria Minor's season. Any season. But, this year she made it a bit easier for us.

The 400 meters is simultaneously probably Minor's best event and probably her least visited event. 

Including the state meet this year, Minor ran the 400 exactly three times in the CHSAA-sanctioned season. She ran 54.02, 54.79, and then 53.30 at State. A lot of folks would be happy to call that a season right there, but Minor evidently wasn't satisfied.

And part of that might have been that she hadn't yet touched her 400 meter times from 2016. 

A 52.38 against stiff competition at Great Southwest changed the outlook on things. It was a PR and better than a second faster than her time at State.

She would have one more opportunity in the 2017 season. That opportunity came with a trip to Sacramento for the USATF Junior National Championships in late June.

Running against a field of mostly collegiate athletes, Minor uncorked at 52.05. It didn't win the race, but it did establish a new all-time standard for Colorado high school girls. And, it may well turn out that Arria Minor herself is the biggest threat the record will face for some time.