Grace Ping (born July 2003) is a 5.75 feet (1.75 m)-tall[1] American runner.[2] As a seventh grader in 2016, she "took down" a large field of female high school runners in a Minnesota cross-country invitational meet.[3] Grace "became a sort of folk hero" from this.[4]
As a seventh grader, she was allowed to compete for Cotter High School, in Winona, Minnesota. She set world records for 12-year-old girls in the 5,000 meters and two mile distances in 2016.[2] As a 12 year old, she finished second behind 19-year-old Weini Kelati in the girls' 5,000 meters at the New Balance High School Nationals in Greensboro, North Carolina.[2]
In 2016 her family moved to Utah, where, as an 8th-grader, she was not going to be allowed to compete in high school competitions. According to her father, Ryan Ping, she was expected nonetheless to compete in “significant indoor and outdoor meets this coming spring.”[5] Which she did: in March 2017, in San Francisco State Distance Carnival, she ran away from the field to achieve 16:26.83 in the outdoor 5000 meters, breaking the world record for 13-year-old females by more than 10 seconds; the previous record had been set by Aleksandra Olinyk of Ukraine in 2007 in Mykolaiv, Ukraine.[6] And in June 2017 she set another world record for 13-year-old girls in the 5,000, again breaking 16:30. This then beat a new record that had been set by Jordan Hasay, who later became a professional runner.[7][2] In total she set "six age-group world records between the 2-mile and 5K distances between the ages of 11 and 13."[8]
By 2019, her family had moved to Arizona, and she and her younger sister Lauren, as a high school freshman, were regularly placing first and second in high school races in Arizona, at ages 16 and 14. They were students at Desert Vista High School.[9] They led the high school team to an Arizona state championship in 2019.[4]
However, having had an injury, she placed 30th in the Foot Locker Cross Country Championship race in San Diego in December 2019,[10] and 27th in the Nike Cross National Championship Final.[1]
In November 2020, Grace and her sister led the Desert Vista High School to a second Arizona state cross country championship and, by virtual race, to win the Nike-sponsored national championship as well. The Desert Vista head coach was Megan Ping, their mother, and their father Ryan was an assistant coach.[4]
According to MileSplitUSA in December 2020, she committed to attend Oklahoma State University after she graduates from high school in 2021.[8]
References
edit- ^ a b "Press Release: Desert Vista High School Student-Athlete Named Gatorade Arizona Girls Cross Country Runner of the Year" (PDF). Gatorade. January 27, 2020. and see award webpage
- ^ a b c d Alison Wade (June 23, 2016). "Amazing Grace: 12-Year-Old Sets Two World Records". Runners World.
- ^ "Grace Ping, 7th Grader, Takes Down ENTIRE Roy Griak High School Field". YouTube. September 15, 2016. Note: By May 2021, the video had achieved more than 5.9 million views according to YouTube's webpage for the video.
- ^ a b c Nick King (November 28, 2020). "Ping sisters help lead Desert Vista cross country to state, national titles". Arizona Family / PHOENIX 3TV / CBS 5.
- ^ "Report: Grace Ping, family moving to Utah". Winona Daily News. August 12, 2016.
- ^ "Grace Ping Sets Another Age Group World Record". YouTube. April 1, 2017.
- ^ Tim Huebsch (June 12, 2017). "13-year-old Grace Ping runs 16:26 for 5K against pros". Canadian Running.
- ^ a b Cory Mull (December 30, 2020). "Grace Ping's Commitment To OK State Solidifies Next Step". MileSplitAZ. Retrieved October 25, 2020.
- ^ Dana Scott. "Desert Vista cross-country phenoms were born to run". The Arizona Republic.
- ^ Robert Obert (December 14, 2019). "Desert Vista's Grace Ping finishes 30th at Foot Locker National Cross Country championships in San Diego". The Arizona Republic.