Dobyns-Bennett sophomore Gigi Venzon broke Jennifer Ailshie’s school record in the 400-meter run last weekend at Hardin Valley in Knoxville. Ailshie’s record was the oldest standing female record at 41 years old. Venzon ran 57.96 to eclipse the previous mark of 58.2.
Dobyns-Bennett sophomore Gigi Venzon broke Jennifer Ailshie’s school record in the 400-meter run last weekend at Hardin Valley in Knoxville. Ailshie’s record was the oldest standing female record at 41 years old. Venzon ran 57.96 to eclipse the previous mark of 58.2.
With nearly her entire high school track and field career in front of her, Dobyns-Bennett sophomore Gigi Venzon has already etched her name in the annals of the program’s history.
Last Saturday at a windy Hardin Valley Invitational in Knoxville, Venzon broke the long-standing school record in the 400-meter run that had been in place since 1983.
Crossing the line in 57.96 seconds, Venzon shattered Jennifer Ailshie’s hand-timed record of 58.2 seconds.
“It means a lot to break the record because I’ve been working very hard for it,” Venzon said. “It was a great sense of accomplishment that I got it last weekend.
“I was looking at the clock the entire last 100 meters saying ‘Please, please, please! I’m going to get it.’ It was a good sense of relief because I didn’t know if I was going to get it or not.”
The race last weekend was a blustery one and it didn’t go out how Venzon had planned.
“They went out super fast and I was getting nervous,” she said. “Around the 200 is where they started dropping back and I started catching them. It was really just me trying to catch (Knox Catholic’s) Chloe Truss in the last 100.”
When looking at Venzon’s career path so far, there are some eerie similarities between her and the former record holder Ailshie.
Venzon is a two-time state qualifier for the state swimming championships and Ailshie was one of D-B’s best swimmers during her prep days.
FOLLOWING A SIMILAR PATH
Ailshie — younger sister of former D-B standout Jim — was one of the faces of girls distance running back in the early 1980s when the sport was flourishing.
She did, however, play second fiddle to former Sullivan South three-time state cross country champion Lesley Whitehead when she stepped up in distance, especially in cross country.
Both Ailshie and Venzon are not the best at cross country, but used the strength part of the sport to their advantage.
“(Cross country) has prepared me for the 400 not being as long as it used to feel like,” Venzon said. “The swimming got me really in shape cardio-wise. In cross country, we did a lot of mile repeats, so it was using a lot of sprinting from last year and endurance from this year to make it go the way we had hoped.”
On the state level, Ailshie could never quite get over the hump against Oak Ridge star Karol Davidson, who went on to be a two-time NCAA champion at 800 at Texas.
In the pool, Ailshie qualified four times to the state meet but was often in the same events — namely the breaststroke — as future three-time Olympic gold medalist Tracy Anne Caulkins (Stockwell) when she was at Harpeth Hall.
ADJUSTING GOALS
Not only was Venzon’s time a record for D-B, it was also one of the rare times an area girl had broken 58 seconds in the 400.
South’s Laura McSpadden and Science Hill’s Hannah and Emma Bowers are the only known other runners to do so. Quite the company to be just a little over a full year into your track career, right?
“I still want to drop time and I want to get into the 56s by the end of high school,” Venzon said.
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