Roisin Willis Surges Past Athing Mu To Win 800 Title

By Mary Albl of DyeStat

NEW YORK -- Raise your hand if you had freshman Roisin Willis winning the girls 800-meter title Sunday at New Balance National Indoor.

Nobody? Well, neither did she.

In a field that featured the newly minted American women's record holder in the 600 meters,  Athing Mu of the Trenton Track Club, it seemed a foregone conclusion that she would win. Meet officials even set up a second timing camera at 880 yards in case she broke Mary Decker's 1974 record at that distance.

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But that's why they hold the race. Anything can happen. Sunday, a relatively unknown freshman from Stevens Point, Wisc., became a national media darling for the afternoon as she tore down the straightaway in the last 50 meters at The Armory and stole the spotlight from Mu, winning the race in 2 minutes, 5.70 seconds. Mu was second in 2:05.86. 

“Honestly, I didn’t think I could win this race,” Willis said. “I was still trying to comprehend what I had just done. It’s pretty overwhelming.” 

Mu, the junior who won the Toyota USATF Indoor 600-meter championship in 1:23.57 two weeks ago, ran a 59.5 split, setting herself up for a possible sub-2 minute effort. Her last 200, however, was her slowest, 33.7 seconds. That allowed Willis, who was in the chase pack and not out of reach, time to catch up. Willis used a big effort the final 200, running 31.78 seconds to pull ahead of Mu in the final strides. 

“Honestly, I wasn’t thinking much. I just kind of heard the crowd yelling (and) I kind of realized I was closing on her,” Willis said. “The last couple meters I just left everything out on the track.” 

Willis came into the meet with a best time of 2:06.91. She left New York with a new personal best and a freshman class national record.

“I really came out here to have fun,” Willis said. “I didn’t feel pressure … probably lucked out for me.” 

For Mu, who said she definitely felt pressure to break two minutes in the event, was gracious after the event, seeing the bigger picture of her indoor season.

“I’m still a junior,” Mu said with a giant smile. “I’m very happy. Kudos to her (Willis).”

Added Willis: “I’m just excited to come by her and be on the same track as her. I still do look up to her a lot. I’ve been watching her since last year. Maybe on a different day things would have gone different.”

But on Sunday, the day belonged to Willis.