National High School Records Through the Years

(Photo by Jeff Johnson)

Girls Outdoor Record – Half Marathon

Cathy Schiro (Dover High School, Dover, New Hampshire)

Performance – 1 hour, 13 minutes, 19 seconds

Date – Sept. 24, 1983

Place – New York City

Meet – Avon Half Marathon

Previous Record – 1:17:11 by Karlene Herrell Erickson (Wheeler Central High School, Bartlett, Nebraska) in Kansas City June 6, 1982

At the start of her junior season in cross country, the 16-year-old Schiro ran the first half-marathon of her life, the famous Avon Half, in Central Park, and won by more than two minutes. One of the prerace favorites, 33-year-old Isabelle Carmichael, interviewed after the race, said of the 5-foot-1 Schiro, “She passed me early, at 2 miles. I said, ‘Wow, who is this little person?’ Then she was way ahead, and that was the last we ever saw of her.” Schiro ran another half the following spring, then ran in the first Olympic Trials women’s marathon ever held, in May 1984, finishing 9th in 2:34:24 to set a national high school record that still stands. Her half-marathon record also still stands, set 42 years ago this week. 

National High School Records Through the Years appears once a week, compiled and written by a track historian, Jack Pfeifer (Lake Oswego, Oregon). Inquiries may be directed to him by email (jack.pfeifer@gmail.com).     

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