It's Sectional Week

 It's sectionals week for Melayna and the Lady Tigers. 

LET'S GO!!

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Laynie will run in the 300 hurdles tomorrow night at the track sectionals.  She needs to place in the top three in order to advance to regionals next week.  There are about five girls with very close competitive times so it will be a fun run.  I'll post updates and results later in the week.

In the meantime, here are a couple of other pictures that another parent has recently sent to me from different meets this season:

Track Sectionals 2024 // Post Season Events

 Melayna ran in the IHSAA track sectionals on Tuesday night, May 14th.  Once again, she would only run in the 300 low hurdles in the hopes that she would be well rested compared to a couple of other competitors and that she would be able to place in the top three in order to advance out to regionals.  (Or, if she didn't naturally advance through being in the top three, hopefully her time would be fast enough that she may get a call-back later in the week).

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Once again, the forecast called for heavy rains so we planned for the worst and packed rain gear, but Noel and I both boldly prayed the night before that the storms would split like they had the week before and that we would be spared the heaviest of the rain.  Praise the Lord!!   God answered that prayer in mighty ways and literally did hold back the rains until about an hour after the meet. Then it let loose and rained most of the night.  

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Anyway, back to the meet.  Annie and Rihanna both placed well in the 100 hurdle preliminaries and were able to come back for the finals about 30 minutes later where Annie placed 2nd and moved on to the regional meet next Tuesday.  Yay!  We were all screaming and celebrating for her.

A few events later, Melayna and Annie would be running the 300 hurdles in the 3rd and fastest heat.  Their times would all be put together with the other two heats and the top 3 runners would all advance.  I am posting the video of her race here, but I highly recommend that you either mute the video or keep the volume low because the 'added voices' are a bit annoying and my apologies for our screams of encouragement!!  LOL  

She is starting in lane 7 so there are two other runners ahead of her and as they come around the third corner, I lose her for a few seconds but then she comes back onto the screen in her bright "highlighter" shoes and you can see a 7 on the side of her jersey.  Our other runner Annie is in first place and Melayna is fighting position with two other runners.  (She said that Coach Howett told them that they had to run like they were the third monkey trying to get onto the ark and as she was running, she just kept saying "monkey, monkey, monkey" in her head over and over.  LOL)  She did fight like that third monkey and just kept chipping away at the distance until she was almost even with the other two runners.  Then she managed to out-lean one of the other girls to finish in that coveted 3rd place with a brand new PR time of 47.69 -- she took two full seconds off of her previous best time!!

I was able to screenshot the video as she ran past us and you can see that she's behind in that picture but she was running hard and gaining ground with every step.

With the finish being so close, we weren't sure if she finished third or fourth yet.  We knew that it was a pretty fast heat however and Melayna fell to the ground just seconds after crossing the finish line.  One of the guys' coaches came and stood over her, smiled the biggest smile, and said "See ya next week Howett... you just finished third!"  And just like that, she had the energy to stand back up and run over to her Dad who was coming down the field to meet them.  I wish that I could have gotten a picture of their hug and high fives.  It literally brought tears to my eyes to see the two of them celebrating this surprise accomplishment.  (Melayna was seeded fifth or sixth heading into the race and Noel said that it was possible that she could advance to regionals but she would have to run the race of her life).  Praise the Lord... she did just that!  And then she was able to relax and savor the accomplishment!!

After her race, she had her picture taken with Keira - a great friend who goes to a different school.  I think they've been taking track photos together since elementary school.

Then she came up to the stands to sit and visit with us for a few minutes before she had to join her teammates down on the field.

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Marissa had to work that night, but as soon as her shift was over, she drove as quickly as she could to the track and then sprinted from the parking lot up to the stands just in time to see Melayna run.  And since she was there, she thought that she should photobomb all of Melayna and Spencer's pictures.

After six or seven attempts, they finally got one without her.  LOL

Congratulations to the entire Lady Tiger track team as they won their 17th straight sectional title.  

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Annie, Rihanna, and Melayna

Laynie and Dad.

Such a great opportunity for them to do this together!!

Laynie and "Smalls"

Holding the trophy

The Girls Varsity Hurdle Crew

See you next week for at least one more week of track updates!!

Melayna's Track Sectional

 This past Tuesday night was IHSAA girl's track sectional.  The top two girls for each event would run and represent their schools and then the top three overall finishers in each event would advance to regionals next week.  

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Melayna would be running in the 100 and 300 hurdles and just like at conference, she would have to run the prelims in the 100 hurdles first.  The top two in each heat would automatically make it into the finals and then the next two fastest times would round out the event.  However, unlike conference where nine runners advance, only the top eight advance and place at sectionals so unfortunately, despite running a new PR, Laynie would finish in 9th place, just outside of the finals.

Morgan had a scholarship awards night at the same time as sectionals, so Marissa took video of both of Melayna's races for me and texted me times as soon as each race was over.  This first video is really blurry after uploading so you can hardly see her but Melayna is over in lane six (I think) and is wearing an orange shirt this time.  Basically you have to look for the girl in fourth place in this heat to know it's her.  (I apologize for the loud yelling... she had quite the fan club of friends and family cheering her on).

100 Hurdles -- New PR -- 17.49

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A little while later, she would come back to the line to run in the 300 hurdles.  I think she was seeded 12th in this race and they would only run the race one time and then give placings off of those times.  She was in lane 2 in this race (I think).  She had a slower start again but came back to make up ground and finished 2nd in her heat.  Once again, Melayna would run a new PR and would once again finish just outside of the scoring with a 9th place finish.

300 Hurdles -- New PR -- 51.82

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Congratulations to her teammate Annie, who placed 3rd in the 300's and automatically advanced to regionals and placed 4th in the 100's and should receive a call-back to run those as well.  And congratulations to the entire Lady Tiger's team for being sectional champions once again.

What a great freshman season, Melayna!  We couldn't be more excited for you and your accomplishments.  And we already cannot wait for next year!