New mentality has Mareno excited for latest challenge

By Erik Boal, DyeStat Editor

Nevada Mareno (above left, John Nepolitan photo) has already conquered some of the most impressive challenges during her prep running career at Leesville Road NC.

Whether it was her 4:43.49 indoor mile and 10:02.89 outdoor 3,200-meter double in the same day during her junior cross country season; or running 4:18.48 in the 1,500 at the adidas Boost Boston Games, followed by 10:00.44 in the 2-mile race and 4:43.39 in the mile at New Balance Nationals Outdoor in her home state – all during a three-day span in June – Mareno has regularly demonstrated the ability to overcome fatigue and rise to the occasion in the biggest meets.

Mareno will only have to compete once Saturday at the Great Edinburgh XCountry International Challenge in Scotland, but the Stanford-bound senior will again face difficult tests physically and mentally in the women’s junior 4-kilometer race at Holyrood Park.

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“I was much more exhausted than anticipated getting into Edinburgh. My flight left New York at 8 p.m. and arrived 7:30 a.m. local time, so first thing after checking in was a run,” Mareno said. “We were advised not to nap at all the day we got in to ensure we adjusted to the time change well; not falling asleep was much much harder than I anticipated but worth it.

“I think having done situations like running the Dream 1,500, flying back to Raleigh, driving to Greensboro, racing the 2-mile, driving home, driving back to Greensboro and racing the mile has given me a lot of perspective on ‘sore’ or ‘tired’ legs as well as being exhausted mentally.”

Mareno enters her international debut with the best finish among the four high school athletes on the U.S. women’s junior roster, having placed second Dec. 10 at Foot Locker Nationals in San Diego.

“My confidence was fairly low coming into Foot Locker having not been tested all season. The fact that I was able to beat my time from last year completely surprised me, but gave me the confidence I needed to feel ready to rep my country,” Mareno said. “I am excited the race is moved down to 4K. It’s a new distance for I think all the girls here, but I hope it will suit me well since it will involve a little more speed.”

Mareno will be joined by Foot Locker third- and fourth-place finishers Rebecca Story of Christian Academy of Knoxville TN and India Johnson of Hilliard Davidson OH, along with Fort Collins CO senior Lauren Gregory, who took third Dec. 3 at Nike Cross Nationals in Oregon.

Arkansas freshman Taylor Werner (above right, John Nepolitan photo), fifth at the NCAA South Central Regional and 16th at nationals, along with Wisconsin freshman Alicia Monson – 11th at the Great Lakes Regional and 96th at the NCAA finals – complete the American women’s junior team.

“Getting the invite to run for Team USA was one of the most fulfilling things to happen for me,” Mareno said. “It was just what I needed at that point in the season. I was starting to hate training and dreading the coming of indoor track, but the invite proved the classic line ‘hard works pays off’ and readjusted my mentality.”

Mareno is attempting to become the third consecutive high school athlete to produce the best finish for the U.S. women’s junior team in Scotland. Makena Morley of Bigfork MT, now a sophomore at Colorado, won the 4-kilometer race in 2015 and Oregon freshman Katie Rainsberger of Air Academy CO placed fifth last year.

The Americans will need another strong performance from Mareno like the one she produced at Foot Locker Nationals – which led the South to a sweep of both girls and boys team titles – in order to regain the women’s junior team championship after Great Britain prevailed in last year’s competition.

“This international travel I hope will serve as a peak into the level of competition I will face once at Stanford and give me another taste of performing post-travel,” Mareno said. “I took a week off after Foot Locker and have now just started up track training. I am hoping my break will not have too adverse of an effect on my performance and I believe the track training will serve a 4K well with the base I maintained from my regular-season cross.”

Regardless of the outcome Saturday, Mareno is just thankful for the latest opportunity in her running career and the chance to thrive facing another challenge like she has so many times before.

“This has been the hardest season of my entire running career,” Mareno said. “It’s been a long season and it’s had a lot of lows and a lot of weeks I wasn’t even going to come to Foot Locker Regionals and a lot of weeks where I almost quit and stopped right there. I’m just really proud of myself. This was for me.”