Perhaps the most surprising finish of the 5A/6A state meet came in the girls 4x800 on Friday. Here's the link from Milestat.com:
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| The Patriot High girls are no stranger to winning major titles. Here is their distance medley hoisting a Penn Relays wagon wheel after their shocking win last spring. |
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In
the girls’ final event on Friday, the stage was set for an exciting showdown in
the 3200-meter relay. In Lane 1 was Western Branch, the top seed. Next to them
was Lake Braddock, the second seed, but potential favorite, with Kate Murphy
running the third leg. West Springfield, with Reagan Bustamante on the anchor,
also looked to be in the mix for a top-three finish.
Western
Branch got off to a fast start, with Adriana Shockley opening up a five-meter
lead in the first 300 meters. However, Lake Braddock and West Springfield kept
on their pace. The Spartans took the lead just before the second leg and opened
up a three-meter lead as a pack of four teams settled in right behind the
leader. Before the second exchange, Western Branch made a move for the front, and
South Lakes held with them through the second exchange.
The
third leg saw Murphy make up a 50-meter deficit to take the lead on the back
turn of her third lap and open up a four, then six, and then eight-meter lead.
Western Branch struggled to keep pace as the third, and final, exchange came at
the 7:01 mark.
However,
Western Branch started to make up ground on the last leg. Ces’ shay Joyner closed
to within a meter of the front with two laps to go. The crowd watched as both Bruins
teams battled over the final two laps. Lake Braddock’s Madeline McAvoy got three
meters ahead, but Joyner pulled back up to her shoulder on the final lap.
As
the expectation of the crowd turned vocal, the pair of runners rounded the
curve. Who would win? Lake Braddock, Western Branch...Lake Braddock, Western
Branch.
Nobody
expected what was about to happen.
Seemingly
out of nowhere, and running as if she was propelled by a sling shot out of the
final turn, Patriot’s Rachel McArthur sprinted down the outer edge of Lane 2,
and past the pair on the homestretch to win in perhaps the most shocking finish
of the meet. McArthur led a comeback from fifth place to the victory stand with
a 2:10 split, and final lap of 30 seconds.
How
did this happen? Pioneers coach Adam Daniels aimed to provide some insight as
to how he formed this state winning quartet.
Opening
Leg – Lindsay Yentz: “In my mind, Lindsay is consistently a good racer. She’s a
sophomore, but we let her lead off because she’s young at it. And if things
didn’t go well, we’d still be okay with three legs to go. But Lindsay stayed in
her comfort zone, and her last 200 (meters) worked out well.” Split – app. 2:26
2nd
Leg – Sierra Biber: “Sierra is our second best 800 runner. Since we didn’t know
how Lindsay would do, we wanted Sierra there to make up ground, if needed.
Also, she runs a 58 in the 400 outdoors, and we needed her leg speed there.”
Split – app. 2:22
3rd
Leg – Abigail Wied: “Abby knows what she is capable of. They made the switch
with Kate (Lake Braddock moving Murphy to third leg), but Abby had no delusions
that she would be keeping up. I hoped she could stay within 75 meters.” Split –
app. 2:24
Anchor
Leg – Rachel McArthur: “I thought that Rachel could catch her. As she got
closer to the front, I could see that Rachel’s eyes got bigger.” Split – app.
2:10
In
conclusion, speaking of his team’s winning effort (9:23), Daniels noted, “It
was a great race. Of course, I was glad to be on the winning side.”
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