Julie & Mary Shea (Cardinal Gibbons)

 

My first thought when I discovered the 3% rule was to see how that applied to the Shea sisters, who in some ways followed in the steps of Mary Decker by destroying people's preconceived notions of what young runners (and girls) could achieve.  Julie ran 4:41.5 for the 1600 in 1977; at the time, the next-best performance in state history (at least that we have in the extensive records at NCPrepTrack.com) was 4:57.  The difference between the two performances is 5%, well above the standard I've set for this article.  In 1979, Mary ran 10:00 for 3200, a distance run rarely those days.  There is no earlier comparison for that except for her sister, who ran 10:21 two years before, a difference of 3.4%.  It's clear that these two Crusaders, who both ran for NC State, did not just transcend their predecessors - they actually redefined the meaning of "elite" as it pertains to North Carolina girls distance, and as such they became the standard by which many great female runners have measured themselves.