Bossong Continues To Raise The Bar


Bossong Continues To Raise The Bar

Cheverus sophomore Victoria Bossong had one of the best indoor season of any sprinter in Maine history. The small but diminutive Bossong won the sprint triple at the Class A state meet in February setting state meet records in the 55m, 400m & 200m to lead the Stags to a repeat team title.

She traveled down to the Boston University on Sunday after the state meet where she qualified for the New Balance Indoor National meet running a state best of 55.66 for 400m. She continued her fast running at the New England Championship where she lowered her own state all-time best in the 300m to 39.68 while placing third. 

Bossong saved her best race for last at the New Balance Indoor Nationals in the emerging elite final section where she came from behind in the final 50 meters to win the race in a new personal best and state all-time best of 55.28.

"During indoor, I was mostly focused on the 400m. My main goal going into the season was to hit my outdoor PR (56.24), which would be harder to run indoors. I started the season off decently, yet by states, I still hadn't broken 57. I felt discouraged, but within a few weeks, it all came together. I took almost 2 seconds off my time (55.28), accomplishing my goal by a long shot, and winning Emerging Elite was a remarkable way to end the season." Bossong told us via email.


The great indoor season has been a launching pad for the outdoor season so far. In her first meet of the year at the South Portland Vacation Invitational she stepped up in distance to the 800m running a state leading 2:19.26. In the first regular season meet at Falmouth, she easily won the 400m in 57.39 and 200m in 26.47, excellent times and even more impressive when you consider the weather, cloudy with temps in the 40's.

"Coming out of indoor, I was excited to be able to train outside on the track instead of in the hallway. Although the weather hasn't been that great, practicing outside on the warmer days has been so beneficial to my training. In my first outdoor 400m, running 57-point in the cold made it evident that I had a long way to improve, but I was glad to see I hadn't lost much of my fitness coming off of indoor." She said.

On Tuesday she ran at Thornton Academy running her first 100m of the season in a time of 12.28. There was no wind gauge at the meet so it's hard to say if the mark was wind legal, but it was just off the windy 12.18 she recorded last June in winning the Class A 100m title.


Later in the meet she took on the 400m lowering her previous season best from 57.39 to 55.90. The mark surpassed the 56.24 state all-time best she set at the New Balance Outdoor Nationals freshman race last June. She now has the three fastest 400m times run in state history, and with the rest of her sophomore year plus two more ahead expect her to break the record several more times.

Looking ahead to the rest of the spring Bossong says,  "Because the outdoor season is so short, I only have a few more chances to run the 400m before nationals. So every time I compete, I really need to concentrate and give it everything I have so that I steadily improve and have a good seed time going into the bigger meets. For now, I'm looking to break 55 seconds, but on a perfect day at the end of the season with good weather and competition, sub-54 would be ideal."

As expected training has been going well this spring.

"My training has been going very well this spring. So far, we've mostly been doing tempo runs and short speed work, but it's been really challenging regardless. I've hit some big PRs in workouts and on my fly runs, so I knew I was capable of running good times." Bossong commented.

 


2019 Outdoor Rankings New
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100m12.281st801st
200m26.472nd3,638th
400m55.901st127th
800m2:19.261st720th


Personal Records High School
Outdoor
Long Jump15-6.75
Pole Vault6-6
100 Meter Dash12.18
200 Meter Dash25.64
400 Meter Dash55.90
800 Meter Run2:19.26