Photo credits to John Hale
Last weekend, four M-A girls on the track and field team competed in the highly selective Arcadia Invitational race in Southern California. The Bears put M-A in the history books as they broke the national record for the 4×1600 and school records for the 800.
On Friday, senior Chloe Pilette and juniors Tatum Olesen, Cleo Rehkopf, and Annie Pflaum competed in the 4×1600. Despite it coming as a surprise, the Bears were the top seed in the race, and they certainly lived up to their position. Pilette ran the first leg of the relay and secured a strong third-place position for the Bears despite getting boxed in at the start of the race.
Pilette handed the baton to Pflaum, who took a crucial lead for M-A. Not only did Pflaum catch up to her competitors, but she gapped the second-place team by about 100 meters.
On her experience in the relay, Pflaum said, “Running under the lights was just a totally different type of vibe than most meets which was really cool, I’m just excited to see how much faster we can go next year.”
Rehkopf took care of her leg with ease, comfortably maintaining the 100-meter gap between M-A and second-place, and handed the baton off to the Bears’ anchor, Olesen. As Olesen grabbed the baton, the only thing on her mind was breaking the national record for the four by sixteen hundred. Speeding up at the very end of her leg, Olesen broke the national record for the year so far.
On Saturday morning, Olesen was back on the track, competing in the eight hundred, which consists of two laps around the track. She ran her laps in 2:11.14, breaking M-A’s all-time record by about 0.3 seconds, etching her name in the Bears’ history books. Olesen later said, “Breaking the school record had been a goal of mine for a while and I think the relay the night before made us all more prepared for our individual events.”
Senior Chloe Pilette said, “It was such a surreal feeling; we had no idea what to expect going in but we always had each other’s back, which took the pressure off a little bit and made the win even more rewarding.”
The girls’ incredible performance put M-A on the map nationally for track and field. Given that three of the four runners are juniors, the team is set up incredibly well for the future. Watch out, as the girls’ track and field team will be a dominant force for years to come!
