Saturday LIVE on MileSplit will be the official return of track & field to Virginia with a special summer race series presented by the MVP Track League. The premier event will be the 400m dash for girls featuring four ladies chasing the state record. This is part two/four of our preview and you can view part one here.
If there is one athlete in Virginia who can never be counted out that is Michaela Rose. She is not only an absolute beast and only active runner in VA who currently holds a state record but also is a 400m specialist. She enters the race this Saturday seeded just behind Aaliyah Pyatt at 53.60 to Rose's 54.04.
Michaela Rose's Athlete Profile
Michaela is definitely fast enough to win the race and break Britton Wilson's record of 52.09 but she will have to do it with something we don't see her do a lot of and that is sprint at full speed.
That is not to say she does not have some foot speed but more so that her strength is her strength. She owns personal bests of 25.14 in the 200 and 12.57 in the 100 but really shows off her talents in the 500m dash and up. She ranks VA #5 all-time in the 500, holds the Virginia state record for the 800 and was the national runner-up in the 400mH at last year's outdoor nationals.
Year over year she has improved a lot so that 54.04 is not at all representative of what type of shape she is in. She dropped one second in the 300 and two in the 500 since 2019 so it is safe to say you could expect right around a 1.5 second different putting her seed around 52.54 heading into this race.
In the race itself her strategy will be simple... go as fast as you can go and know they will come back to you. She knows her pace and frankly knows how to time trial an event since she rarely faces competition so if she can have the perfect race she very well could be VA's first under 52 outdoors.
The final takeaway for Michaela is that she is homeschooled. While her competition is getting used to a new normal she has had almost nothing change. They have been training in her environment and that could ultimately give her the upper hand this Saturday.