By Justin HAGER

She hadn’t even run yet, and Mia Barnett was already the talk of the town entering last weekend’s NCAA indoor track and field championships at the Birmingham CrossPlex in Birmingham, Alabama. As the only true freshman in field for the women’s mile run, and one of the only freshmen to qualify for the nation’s top collegiate tournament, most were excited to see what she could do. However, they weren’t expecting much.

Then she started running.

Crescenta Valley Weekly readers know that Barnett can run. Last year, she earned Gatorade Athlete of the Year honors while attending Crescenta Valley High School, running the third fastest mile in California girls’ prep history.

Four minutes and thirty-four seconds after she began her run in Birmingham, the rest of the country knew she could run, too. Her official time of 4:33.54 broke the 40-year-old University of Virginia school record for the one-mile run, previously held by Jill Haworth. The record-breaking run earned Barnett a spot in the finals the next day, where she placed 10th in the United States earning second-team All-American honors. Barnett also competed with Virginia’s distance medley relay team, which placed seventh in the United States with a time of 11:04.88, earning first team All-American honors.