WVU's Paladino Peaking at Right Time
May 27, 2015 04:25 PM | General
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| Freshman Millie Paladino is one of seven Mountaineers competing at this weekend's NCAA East Regionals in Jacksonville, Florida. | |
| Submitted photo |
Paladino is one of the most decorated prep distance runners in state history, but she spent a good portion of her freshman season at West Virginia University this year slowed by nagging injuries.
At one point earlier this spring, Mountaineer coach Sean Cleary was contemplating shutting her down for the rest of the year and pursuing a medical redshirt for the outdoor season.
“She kind of came in hobbling,” said Cleary.
Paladino’s name blew up nationally in 2014 during her senior season in high school when she won the mile at the Penn Relays. That led to invitations to other prestigious national races and recognition as one of the top prep distance runners in the country.
By then, however, she had already committed to run for Cleary at West Virginia after also considering Syracuse where her older brother Andy is currently competing. That meant other schools didn’t really continue to pursue her services after she won that race.
“That ship had kind of sailed by that point,” she laughed.
Paladino became so well known within state running circles that just about everywhere she went other runners approached her to have their picture taken with her, which she admitted was a little bit strange.
“I’m just a regular person and I’m not doing anything special,” she shrugged.
Not so, says her coach.
Paladino is far from ordinary.
“Millie has shown me a ton this year,” said Cleary. “She was extremely well coached in high school, and she has already been training at a level of a kid two or three years into college.”
Indeed, Paladino received outstanding instruction from her prep distance coach Ed Fronapfel, and also from local club coach Jonathan Wright, the husband of former WVU national champion Megan Metcalfe.
Incidentally, Paladino and Metcalfe are very similar in stature, both standing just a shade over 5-feet tall.
“There are some comparisons but the biggest comparison is that you are talking about two small women with huge hearts,” noted Cleary. “I would say Millie has the ability to do similar things in the mile, and she will probably see her finest results come later on in her career in the 5K just like Megan did.”
Just to be mentioned in the same breath with Megan Metcalfe is quite a compliment for Paladino because Metcalfe is considered one of the most accomplished distance runners in school history.
Metcalfe has won national and international races during her brilliant running career and even competed for Canada in the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Bejing.
“Megan was a true long distance runner who had great speed, and Millie might even have a touch more speed than Megan,” admitted Cleary.
Let’s be clear, though, Paladino is not at Metcalfe’s level at this point in her young career but she continues to improve and the last three weeks of running have been her best so far at WVU.
Two weeks ago at the Big 12 Outdoor Championships, she advanced to the final in the 1,500-meter run where she placed seventh with a season-best time of 4:21.35. The weather conditions were extremely difficult and that led to a very tactical (and slow) race – something new for Paladino, who was accustomed to establishing the pace and winning races going away when she ran in high school.
“It was so windy and extremely humid there, and the championship race it went out in a jog,” she said. “It wasn’t even slow for a race but a jog because nobody wanted to take off and run into the wind. When that happens it comes down to a sprint the last 500 meters and it’s really hard for some people to run like that.”
Her coach was impressed with how she handled it, though. “A tremendous performance,” he noted.
Paladino said running tactically is something entirely new for her. Actually, afterward she sought out the girl who eventually sped up the race to pick her brain on why she decided to do that.
“She told me that she could not let the race come down to a kick or else she wasn’t going to win it,” Paladino explained.
Paladino will be the first to admit that she is not someone to over-analyze things because races rarely go as planned. There are a number of factors that go into any given race and trying to consider them all is almost pointless.
“Control the controllables,” she said. “Sometimes you just have to go out there and think on your toes. In the mile if you lose focus for less than 30 seconds the whole race could be gone. You have to be sharp and you have to be able to change gears really fast.”
Paladino expects more tactical racing this weekend when she competes at the NCAA East Regionals in Jacksonville, Florida.
She has the 24th-fastest time heading into Thursday’s preliminaries and the fastest time of any freshman at the meet. Cleary’s goal is for her to advance beyond Thursday to get into Saturday’s final for the opportunity to move on to the NCAA National Championships, held in Eugene, Oregon, June 10-13.
If that happens, then a good first year of college will become even better for Millie Paladino.
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