Jenna Mulhern opened up her indoor season in a big way on Friday, moving up the all-time list in the 5K in a big way. The senior went 16:17.47 at the Camel City Invitational at JDL Fast Track in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
Mulhern, competing unattached, placed second in the women's 5,000 meters. Gionna Quarzo, a 2020 Brownsville Area graduate currently at NC State University, won in 16:16.25, just over a second ahead of Mulhern.
Mulhern's time is PA No. 2 all-time and US No. 8 all-time indoors. In Pennsylvania history, only Tessa Barrett (16:11.85 in 2014) has run faster. Barrett's time was a high school national record at the time. That record was then broken in four consecutive seasons and currently stands at 15:37.12 by Katelyn Tuohy in 2018.
With Friday's race Furman University signee made the trip to the state she'll call home in the fall. It was Mulhern's indoor 5,000m debut, and she made it a good one making a big journey up the all-time rankings. The last time Mulhern raced, she placed third at the Eastbay XC National Championship in San Diego.