Repeat!
It was, as they say, déjà vu all over again.
The defending state champion Vandalia Community High School girls 4-by-400-meter relay team was in the runner-up position to Eureka after Thursday’s preliminary heats. Just like last year.
They drew the same lane assignment in the finals – lane 8, next to the outside. Just like last year.
And they ran an electrifying race – leading virtually pole to pole in the four-lap race. Just like last year.
But unlike last year, the outcome wasn’t determined until the final few meters, as the Lady Vandals’ anchor, Kayla Houston, held off a hard-charging Leeann Michl of Newton to secure back-to-back state titles for the VCHS squad.
The efforts of Paige Dodson, Ashley Durbin, Tori Hagy and Houston brought the appreciative crowd to its feet at O’Brien Stadium on the campus of Eastern Illinois University in Charleston.
But the Lady Vandals’ second title run wasn’t without some drama.
Just hours before Saturday’s title race, Coach Mike Travelstead changed the order of the runners. Houston, the school record holder in the 400, was moved from the third position to the anchor – setting up a showdown with Newton’s Michl. And the gutsy Durbin was moved from anchor to the second position, where it was her job to fight her way to the lead when runners were allowed to cut to the inside rail midway through her lap.
It was a move that paid golden dividends.
After a strong opening lap by Dodson, Durbin charged through the first turn and made the long drive from lane eight to the pole, beating all runners there and establishing the Lady Vandals’ lead position. “I could hear all the other runners behind me and I knew I had to keep my lane,” Durbin said. Hagy got the baton from Durbin in the lead and proceeded to put some additional space between herself and the field before handing off to Houston with a 5-meter lead. Houston, who had never beaten Michel in head-to-head competition, stretched the lead to nearly 20 yards in the first 200 meters. It was then that the multi-time state placer Michl started her charge – coming from fourth place to within a stride of Houston in the final stretch.
“I knew she was back there somewhere,” Houston said. “I just kept telling myself to keep my chin down and my knees up. And I thought about what a great feeling it was going to be when I crossed the finish line.”
And what a great feeling it was! Houston powered through the final meters of the race and beat Michl by a mere two tenths of a second.
In doing so, the VCHS senior foursome set a new school record of 4:00.58, shaving nearly three seconds off of the school record of 4:03.47 set in last year’s state finals.
“This is the best feeling I’ve had in my life,” an out-of-breath Houston said just after the race. “It took all four of us to win this. There was a lot of pressure on us to repeat; there was a big target on our backs all season.”
“It’s too great for words,” Dodson said. “I honestly didn’t know if we could win again, because the competition is so fierce.”
“I felt like there were dead weights on my legs,” said Hagy, who replaced Kris Stunkel from last year’s championship squad. “But I just had to keep going. I was so excited when it was over. What a great way to end the season.”
Travelstead said the girls all ran exceptionally well to set the record and defend their title. All were around 60 seconds for their leg on the relay.
“You just can’t ask for more than what they did,” he said. “It’s a fantastic feeling. We talked all year about repeating. The girls are all very competitive; they just do not like to lose. They were ready.”
Travelstead said the change in order was a decision he made jointly with the team.
“We talked about it in the fieldhouse (waiting for the race), and I asked them what they thought. Ashley was concerned about running against Michl, and Kayla said ‘I’d rather have this (the anchor leg) on my shoulders.’ They’re all mature, and I thought they could handle the change.”
When it came time to step on the track, the order didn’t seem to be a problem at all. Each person had her assignment, and each one delivered.
“Vandalia is on the map for track now,” Travelstead said. “Track isn’t one of the most beloved sports, but maybe this will change that perception. I think this is the greatest sport.”
• • •
In addition to the 4-by-400-meter relay, the Lady Vandals also competed in three other events at the state meet.
The same foursome (Hagy, Houston, Dodson and Durbin) ran in the 4-by-100-meter relay preliminaries on Thursday, nearly equaling their school-record time but placing eighth in their heat. Their time of 52.22 was not good enough to advance to Saturday’s finals.
Houston was third in her heat in the 400-meter dash in 59.37 – new school record – but did not advance.
And finally, Durbin ran a 2:31.72 for the open 800-meter run – about three seconds off her best – and did not qualify.
This year’s state meet is the first for the three-class system in track. With Class A running preliminaries on Thursday this year, the Lady Vandals had 48 hours to recover from their preliminary races before competing in Saturday afternoon’s finals, the last event of the meet.
