Peabody’s Rocha concludes high school track career at nationals

In the final two races of her high school career, Peabody High senior Catarina Rocha finished ninth in the 2-mile at the New Balance Outdoor Track Nationals in Greensboro, N.C., Saturday, then helped her teammates place seventh in the 4×1 mile relay Sunday.”I’m a little tired,” Rocha said on Sunday night. “I ran two races. I’m a little tired, and happy to be done.”Rocha ran the 2-mile in the unseeded heat; although her personal best of 10:30 qualified her for the meet, it did not place her in the top 15 runners, who competed in the seeded heat.”Unfortunately, we were hoping to get into the fast heat,” her father and coach, Joe Rocha, said. “It didn’t happen.”Yet Catarina Rocha still ended up running a new personal best of 10:26, which her father said was faster than seven girls in the fast heat. Also, he said, she placed higher than last year, and bettered her time from 2012 by 13 seconds.”I went out there and tried to go for time,” Catarina Rocha said. “I wanted to place in the other seed.”She was in “a pack of three,” she said. “In the last 100 (meters), a girl just outkicked me. For the last 200 (meters) it was us two. It was a good race.”About 12 hours later, she and relay teammates Lauren Barrett, Sydney May and Sam Allen ran the championship race and just missed out on All-American status. Rocha ran a 4:50 split, which her father said was “the fastest split in the entire event. It would have placed in third in the open mile.””We were behind, in 10th when I got the baton,” Catarina Rocha said. “We made up to fifth. We almost placed sixth ? It was our first time running. I can’t complain.”Asked how she felt upon completing her final high school race, she said, “It’s pretty sad. It’s bittersweet. It’s sad I won’t be racing any more with these girls.”However, she sounded hopeful to resume her track career in college. She will attend Providence College this fall.”As a father, I’m very proud of her,” Coach Rocha said. “It was the second time she competed at nationals in track. She was very new to the event. She responded very well. She won seven state titles, improved every year. As a coach, what can you ask more from an athlete?”Rich Tenorio can be reached at [email protected].