Next weekend's showdown between Natick's Grace Connolly and Milton's Bridget Mitchell at the Bob McIntyre Twilight Invitational could prove to be very interesting; not to mention, very fast too.
Mitchell gave indication she could pose somewhat of threat to the state's No. 1 runner with an impressive showing at Saturday's Brown Northeast Invitational. Navigating strongly through the soggy 3.1-mile layout at Goddard Memorial State Park, the Wildcat senior finished second overall in the Championship race with a 25-second personal best of 17 minutes, 32.67 seconds! Mitchell finished as a runner-up to defending New England titlist and Foot Locker All-American Jacqueline Gaughan of Exeter, NH, who clocked the nation's No.1 time in the country of 16:48.29 for the fast 5K course. In last year's event, Gaughan was second to Connolly, who was timed in 18-minutes flat.
MItchell is coming off a disappointing outdoor track season where she had to overcome an iron deficiency. She's now has the ailment under control and is ready to attack the trails this season. Her standout performance at Brown is the latest example.