Johns Hopkins senior Ella Baran broke the Division III women's record in the mile on Saturday afternoon at Dr. Sander Columbia Challenge's USA Invitational Mile race in New York, clocking in at 4:40.53 to best the existing DIII mark by more than three seconds.
Image caption: Johns Hopkins senior Ella Baran clocked a time of 4:40.53 in the mile to set a new NCAA Division III women's record.
The previous record of 4:43.92 was set by Wartburg's Missy Buttry on March 12, 2005.
Baran's time also topped the Hopkins program record of 4:49.64 held by Annie Monagle.
"I am so proud of how Ella competed against such an elite field," JHU coach Bobby Van Allen said. "We are grateful for the opportunities we are able to provide our athletes. Ella is one of the hardest working athletes we've ever had and it is really exciting to see what she is capable of and we are just scratching the surface of that. Missy Buttry is considered the greatest distance runner in Division III history, so to see Ella break one of her records is just tremendous. I can't wait to see if she can take down another record next weekend in the 3,000."
Baran and a group of Blue Jays will head to Boston University's David Hemery Invitational in Boston this weekend. Baran will compete in the 3,000.
