Girls’ Track 4×1 Breaks School Record

Last Friday night was no ordinary night for the girls’ 4x100m relay team.  It was the night of Kansas Relays, one of the largest track meets in the Midwest.  

The relay team of sophomore Katie MacAdam, freshman Destiny Ray, senior Sarah Rankin, and sophomore Jessie Stindt finished with a time of 49.93, placing 12th overall in prelims at the Kansas Relays. More importantly they shattered the 36 year-old school record previously set at 50.1.

MacAdam carefully set up her blocks on the red track of the University of Kansas, attempting to calm her nerves, knowing that a bad start could doom the entire relay.

“When I walked into that stadium I was so nervous and all the other girls were really intimidating, but after I got in the blocks and ready to go, I was really confident in what our team could do,”  MacAdam said.

Ray waited to receive the first handoff, both nervous and excited to face such elite competition.

“There [were] a lot of older people [there],” Ray said. “It’s exciting to be there but then it’s also nerve-wracking since you don’t normally expect to see all those good people.”

At the top of the curve Rankin waited to receive the next handoff, anxious about competing at such a large meet, but confident in her abilities.

“I was pretty nervous, but once the race started I kind of got in the zone,” Rankin said.  “I was just thinking to hug the curve and keep pushing and keep running.”

Stindt, fresh off a second place triple jump finish, restlessly waited at the end of the curve to receive the final handoff.

“Walking out [onto the track] I was nervous about our handoff just because we messed it up at the last meet,” Stindt said.  “[The race] felt like it didn’t even happen, it was kind of like a dream.”

Going into the race, the team had the goal of improving upon their previous season best time of 51.53, but they had no expectation of breaking the school record.

“I was shocked, like ‘wait that’s not right.’  I had to look at it a couple of times before I realized it was actually our time,” Ray said.

Now ranked sixth in Kansas 6A, the girls are hopeful to improve on this time and aspire to place high at state.

“We just have to keep moving forward and setting new goals, because we have farther places to go,”  MacAdam said.

*Feature Image is courtesy of ks.milesplit.com