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Syracuse Track: Margo Malone earns 1st Team All-America in 10k

Day 2 of the NCAA Outdoor Track Championships featured one Syracuse athlete, Margo Malone in the 10,000 m run.

By Kevin M Wall
Sara D. Davis

The Syracuse Orange track and field team had only one competitor in action Junior Margo Malone was one of 25 competitors in the Women's 10,000m final on Thursday evening. She entered the meet with the 4th fastest time in the field, but she wasn't given much of a chance against defending champion Emma Bates of the Boise State Broncos and top seed Dominique Scott of the Arkansas Razorbacks, who were heavy pre-race favorites.

My Pre-Race Prediction was: Bates defends her title. Malone finishes 3rd and earns 1st-Team All-America honors

The field went out around 5:15 for the first mile with Princeton Tigers' runner Megan Curham taking the pace from the start while Malone was content to hang back in the large group of runners. The pace slowed in mile 2 as Bates and Scott stayed right off the lead, content to let others do the work for them. With about 9 laps to go the leaders started to stretch the pack and pick up the pace. Margo Malone made a decisive move to stay with the group up front, which cut the field in half.

The final two miles saw the group of 12 runners battling for the top 8 spots. (Well, actually we didn't get to "see" the battle as ESPN decided that it would be better to wait and take commercials at the end of the race when the actual racing was occurring. I don't understand why they would do that because clearly the people watching the coverage of a track meet are fans of the sport and want to watch the entire race, or they could simply use one of their many platforms to keep coverage going during the breaks- end rant).

With just under a mile to go Bates made a big move by throwing in a 66 second 400 (the pace had been around 80 seconds per 400), but  the move ended up costing her more than anyone else. As Bates slowed down with 2 laps to go, Notre Dame Fighting Irish runner Molly Seidel took over the lead with a strong, confident move.  Seidel pulled away for a big upset win in a time of 33:18.37. Margo Malone was able to finish 7th in a time of 33:39.50 and earn 1st Team All-America honors.

Malone becomes the 3rd straight Outdoor Track 1st-Team All-American runner for the Syracuse women, following Lauren Penney (5,000m) and Sarah Pagano (10,000m). Congratulations Margo!

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