Sophomore Lizzy Warner competed in her first IHSA state track meet last week at Eastern Illinois University. In this first-person feature, she talks about what it was like to go up against some of the best athletes in the state, and why certain lyrics by Eminem had special meaning for her

By Lizzy Warner
Gargoyle staff reporter
Posted Wednesday, May 23, 2007, The OG, girls track & sports

Sophomore Lizzy Warner runs the first leg of the
4x800 relay Friday at the Class A state meet in
Charleston. (Gargoyle photo) (click to enlarge)

IT WAS REALLY exciting to run in the Class A state meet last week. The track at Eastern Illinois University's O'Brien Stadium was absolutely packed!

I was there to compete in the 4x800-meter relay with senior Aria Collopy, junior Shivani Khanna, and junior Ruthie Welch.

We and Uni's other state qualifiers — senior Paige Martin in the pole vault and freshman Elizabeth Russell in the 1,600 — left for Charleston on Thursday afternoon.

Prelims would be held the next morning. Forty-one 4x800 teams would compete for the top 12 spots and the right to advance to Saturday's finals.

My teammates and I went to the track Thursday night to get some practice in before the actual meet. Head coach Doug Mynatt told us to get on the track and run a 300, as though we were in our race.

We hopped on the track and he said: “Be finished in 52 seconds … Go!”

So we all ran together the first 300 in exactly 52 seconds, and when I got off the track the first thing in my mind was, “If I start off this fast in the meet I will die!!”

And it was definitely intimidating, because when you're the first runner in a relay, nobody is spread out yet, and it's your obligation to keep up with the group.

I had asked Ruthie, who was last year's leadoff runner, if everyone actually ran that fast. She told me that after doing the practice last year she thought she was going to cry, but then when it came time for the race, she kind of just went with it.

That really helped me a lot. In a normal race, our 4x800 team is expected to finish in the top two; it's practically known that we will finish in the top two. But when you're at this state meet it really hits you that you're not at a normal race.

You're at a race where all the teams are used to finishing in the top two. You're racing against the best in the state, and it's not just going to be an easy win. You have to fight for it.

Before the race, all the girls met in our coaches' dorm room, and they gave us individual sheets of paper. On mine it had a quote from Eminem that said: “So here I go it's my shot, feet fail me not. This may be the only opportunity that I got.”

It was a big inspirational meeting, getting us all really pumped up for the race. We had to set a team goal, and the 4x800 decided that we wanted to finish fourth in our 14-team heat and “beat” the seeding (since we were seeded sixth).

When we got to the track Friday morning and they made the first call, I started to realize everything on my body hurt. I didn't stretch my calves properly, my quads were aching, I ate too much that morning, and I just felt
really bad all over.

But that's what happens when you get into these big races. You psyche yourself out; you think everything's going wrong when really you're perfectly fine.

In fact I remember walking up to the line thinking I was totally dehydrated and wondering how I would survive throughout the race. But when the gun went off, I realized Ruthie was right. You're starting out faster than you normally do. Everyone is starting out faster than they normally do. And you just kind of float along with it, and it isn't as bad as you'd think it would be. My teammates told me that when it starts to hurt, go faster, because then you'll be over the pain that much quicker.

At the very end I was able to hand off the baton in fourth position, which makes you feel very triumphant knowing that you were able to beat the seeding.

Getting off the track, the worst thing isn't that you're dying for air or feeling like you're going to faint, but surviving all the coughing. If you were standing on the sidelines you would have thought we were all contagious, because everyone just kept coughing and coughing. And it didn't even stop until a couple of hours later.

When we finished our race, we knew we hadn't run the best time that we
could have. Everyone could've pushed themselves a little more, and if it had worked out that way, I'm sure we could have been one of the top-finishing teams at finals.

But that's not what happened. We finished sixth in our heat with a time of 10 minutes, 12.77 seconds, 17th overall. And it's upsetting.

We definitely wanted it, and we definitely had the potential. But as Doug said, we can all do really well, but it's about being able to do it all together.

Still, the majority of the team will be back next year, so we're planning on coming back and being able to show them what we're really made of!

RELATED

— Gargoyle coverage: State meet in photos

— Gargoyle coverage: Illinek season ends at state prelims

— External link: IHSA Class A state prelim results (4x800)