As the laps ticked off in the girls 3200 meter race in the star-studded Dublin Distance Fiesta on March 21, Shea Elmore knew she was on pace for a fast time.
She just didn’t know how fast.
The Los Gatos High School senior finished fourth in 10 minutes, 41.18 seconds, smashing her previous best by a whopping 37 seconds and breaking the school record in the process. Her time ranks No. 1 in the Central Coast Section this season. Elmore covered the last lap in a blistering 73 seconds, leaving her stunned.
“I felt confident coming into the race, but I had no idea I would run 10:41,” she said. “I could hear the split times during the race, but my final lap was so much faster than I expected it to be.”
Elmore said her training, the atmosphere and the competition helped her establish a new personal-record (PR). The Dublin Distance Fiesta is one of Northern California’s premier early season races and Elmore was in a field with last year’s Nevada state champion along with Montgomery High of Santa Rosa’s Hanne Thomsen, who is ranked nationally.
“The atmosphere is great,” Elmore said. “There’s music playing throughout your race, which in the 3200 is so helpful because mentally the event is so demanding. And of course the competition definitely helped.”
In addition to being ranked No. 1 in the CCS in the 3200, Elmore has the sixth fastest time in the 800 and 1600 meters. In the latter event, she ran a PR of 5:03.75 in a duel meet with Los Altos on March 18, a race in which she had no one to push her.
Once again, Elmore was surprised with her performance—but for an entirely different reason.
“It’s always harder when you’re running alone,” she said. “I had to really push myself in that race so that was a little harder.”
Elmore’s goal is to run in the low 10:30s in the 3200 and go sub five minutes in the 1600, times that are usually good enough to make it to the CIF State Championships. Elmore is also a member of the 4×400 relay team that ranks No. 3 in the CCS.
“I love the relays,” she said. “The 4×400 is one of my favorite events because the atmosphere is amazing, especially when we’re running it at bigger meets because it’s usually the last event.”
Elmore is part of a talented Los Gatos girls team that features sophomore sensation Madison Kohli, who ranks third in the 200 (24.82) and 400 meters (56.79), while also being one of the fastest legs for the 4×100 and 4×400 relay teams.
In the field events, the Wildcats have a three-time returning state qualifier in Nicole Steiner, who has a lifetime best throw of 43 feet, 6 inches in the shot put. Meanwhile, the Los Gatos boys team features distance ace Aydon Stefanopoulos and sprinters Shane Harmer and Kai Jordan.
Stefanopoulos broke his own school record in the 3200 at the Dublin Distance Fiesta, finishing in 8:57.33. That time ranks No. 2 in the CCS this season. Stefanopoulos has the top mark in the 1600 (4:10.46) and No. 3 mark in the 800 (1:54.46).
After a bout with anemia that slowed him down in 2024, Stefanopoulos is back on track and poised to contend for CCS and CIF State titles in the final season of his illustrious high school career.
