She won multiple state and national titles, and regularly competed against collegians and pros as well as former Olympians.
This past week, Sophia Gorriaran added another highlight to her storied high school career, one that didn’t involve putting a pair of racing shoes on her feet.
The recent Moses Brown grad and middle-distance ace was one of two athletes elected as captain for Team USA at this weekend’s Pan Am U20 Championships in Costa Rica, Puerto Rico. She was chosen along with University of Georgia freshman and star sprinter Kaila Jackson
Gorriaran found out about the selection on the eve of the Pan Am U20s during a team meeting on Thursday.
“The head coach (Carmelita Jeter) just asked people to shout out names of who they wanted to be captain,” she said. “A few of us got called up and the (women’s) team voted on who they thought should be captain and two of us were picked.”
Gorriaran and Jackson were front and center during opening ceremonies on Friday night inside the Jose Figueroa Freire Stadium.
“It was cool being with all the teams, all the other countries that were at this meet,” she said. ‘It was fun.”
The Harvard commit qualified for the 800-meter run and the 1,500m for this weekend’s three-day competition, held Friday to Sunday. Once she learned the 1,500m would be held prior to the 800m, she scratched from the event at the USATF U20 Championships to focus solely on the two-lapper.
Gorriaran goes into the meet with a little momentum on her side.She captured her speciality at the New Balance Nationals in mid June in 2 minutes, 4.59 seconds. She also took individual honors at the USATF U20s a month ago in 2:04.33 to secure her spot.
Two weeks ago, Gorriaran clocked a season best of 2:02.56 at meet that was part of the Under Armour Sunset Tour in Los Angeles, a professional competition she was invited to by Bobby Kersee, the legendary track coach, whose coached a plethora of star athletes and Olympians, including gold medalists Athing Mu and Sydney McLaughlin.
“It was a good feeling for sure to have a guy like that reaching out to (me),” she said. “Just knowing that he trains some of the best athletes in the world, him showing interest in me was really cool. I was happy and appreciative of that.”
The 800m finals will take place at 4:40 p.m., on Sunday. Originally, the schedule included a preliminary heat to be held in the morning. Gorriaran owns the fastest time of all the entries with an all-time best of 2:00.58 from the indoor season her junior year. She has a best of 2:00.65 on the outdoor surface. Allison Ince of Illinois, a runner-up to Gorriaran at the USATFU20s, is the two seed with her PR of 2:03.17 from the Arcadia Invitational (CA) in early April, a race she placed second overall. Four more athletes in the field have done 2:06 or faster.
Gorriaran has one simple plan once the gun is fired. She’s prepared for the hot and humid conditions of the meet that are expected to continue on its final day.
“I am looking to win,” she said. “Whatever it takes to win is my goal, just try and go for it and control the race.”
