Olympics / Team USA Local Olympic Spotlight: Haddonfield, New Jersey Native Marielle Hall – USA Track & Field by Daniel Popoloski August 3, 2016 Marielle Hall (PHOTOGRAPH BY PHOTORUN) Looking for her own shot at Olympic glory, New Jerseyan Marielle Hall heads to Rio to compete in the 10,000m. Hall became the first athlete from New Jersey to make the U.S. track and field team, when she placed third in the 10,000m race at the U.S. Olympic Trials. She finished behind New York native Molly Huddle, and Emily Infeld. This came eight days before she finished a disappointing seventh in the 5,000m, leaving her with one event in her first ever Olympics. Ordinarily, Hall specialized in shorter distances, such as the 800m, the 1,500m, and primarily the 5,000m. The ten is a relatively new event for her, meaning she isn’t as experienced running it, so much so that she had never run the event in a competition coming into 2016. At the University of Texas, she won the NCAA title in the 5,000m as a senior, and also finished second and third in the 2014 and 2015 U.S. Trials respectively. It is very unlikely that Hall will come close to medal in the 10,000m in Rio. She is inexperienced in the event, and there are too many other runners in the world that are simply better than her. Even in her own nation, Hall isn’t the most dominant long distance runner, being outpaced by Huddle and Infeld. Sometimes coming at longer distances with a shorter distance approach can help break the mold and allow someone to succeed. However, Hall’s times simply aren’t good enough to go toe-to-toe with some of the best women in the world. In the last Olympics, her personal best time would have only finished her 15th. If a runner from a non-East African nation is going to make the podium, she will probably be from Great Britain or Japan. Hall isn’t ready to compete for a medal yet. Hall graduated from Haddonfield Memorial High School in 2010, and then from the University of Texas in 2014, where she majored in government. At Texas, she served as the chair for Students for Education Reform board. As a kid, she joined Marlton Track Club in New Jersey. The 10,000m will be the first medal event in track and field at the Rio Olympics. Post Views: 1,964 The following two tabs change content below.BioLatest Posts Daniel Popoloski Dan is a Staff Writer here at DoubleGSports.com with a focus on Team USA and the Rio Olympics Latest posts by Daniel Popoloski (see all) Team USA Proves it Can Win without Phelps, Lochte - July 30, 2017 Sydney McLaughlin becomes first Repeat Gatorade Athlete of Year - July 18, 2017 Local Swimmers Looking to Thrive at World Championships - July 18, 2017 Sydney McLaughlin Dominates New Jersey Meet of Champions - June 14, 2017 Related TopicsEmily InfeldMarielle HallMolly HuddleRio 2016Rio OlympicsTeam USA Click to comment You must be logged in to post a comment Login Leave a Reply Cancel replyYou must be logged in to post a comment. Newsletter Subscription Can't Miss Posts! Women in Sports: NHL Network Host, Jackie Redmond by Nicholas Durst | posted on March 4, 2019 Lochte, Dressel and Ledecky all Chasing Gold at 2021 Tokyo Olympics by Anthony Paradiso | posted on April 18, 2021 You Know I’m Right, Episode 109: The Athletic’s Marc Carig (Audio/Video) by Nicholas Durst | posted on April 19, 2021 Michael Jordan Could Change the Future of Nascar for the Better by Inesh Chari | posted on March 30, 2021 You Know I’m Right, Episode 106: Newsday’s Neil Best (Audio/Video) by Nicholas Durst | posted on April 12, 2021 More in Olympics / Team USA Lochte, Dressel and Ledecky all Chasing Gold at 2021 Tokyo Olympics The 2021 Summer Olympic games are scheduled to take place from July 23 –... You Know I’m Right, Episode 94: Olympic Gold Medalist Lilly King (Audio/Video) On the 94th episode of You Know I’m Right, Nick Durst was joined by olympic... The Tokyo 2021 Olympics Will Feature New Amazing Sports Surfing, skateboarding, sport climbing, karate, baseball and softball will compete at the Summer Olympics. You Know I’m Right, Episode 82: NBC’s Mary Carillo (Audio/Video) On the 82nd episode of You Know I’m Right, Nick Durst and Joe Calabrese are joined by... Local Olympic Spotlight: Bayside, NY Native Dalilah Muhammad Has Chance at History in Rio Local Olympic Spotlight: Darby, PA Native Darrell Hill Hoping For Shot Put Medal