At the second and final day of the Maryland state 4a championship Saturday, sophomore Brittney Wade and junior Ava Farrell were B-CC’s lone entries. Both had run the day before – Wade and Farrell were part of the 4 x 800 meter relay team that finished second, and Farrell had finished third in the two-mile.
Farrell was the first competitor on Saturday, running the mile. In the two-mile on Friday, she had hung back while a lead pack took off and she eventually caught them. This time she went out with the leaders.
“She decided to go with the top pack and stay as long as she could,” said B-CC Coach Chad Young. “The whole field settled in, maybe as a result that almost everyone was running multiple events, and the second and third laps were slower paced. Runners started to separate on the last lap, while Ava ran the same pace as she had in the second and third laps.”
She finished 10th overall, and she tied her PR, running 5 minutes, 14 seconds. “She gave everything she had,” Young said. “Usually she has a kick at the end, but she ran the first lap so fast it may have taken something out of her. She was happy with tying her best time ever; the competition was pretty elite.” The winning time was 5 minutes flat.
In the 400-meter race, Wade was seeded in the fastest heat. She finished fifth in 58.8 seconds in her heat, and seventh overall. The winner was Northwest all-American Olivia Ekpone, a senior who on Saturday ran the fastest 400 meter time in the country for a high school athlete so far this year, clocking 53.15 seconds.
“The way they staggered the runners at the start, with Brittney on the inside lane, made it seem like she was starting behind, so I think she tried to make up the ground early in the race and gave it everything she had. Her time was really good,” Young said.
In the final race, the 800-meter run, Young was a little concerned that Wade would not be at her best because of the lack of recovery time. In the regional meet a week earlier, the lack of time between the 400- and 800-meter races had hurt Wade; she ran the 800 meters in 2:24, barely qualifying for the state meet. It also meant that she was seeded Saturday in the slower heat.
That turned out to be a key factor.
In the first heat of the 800-meter race, one or two other runners challenged Wade, but she soon took control and opened up a huge lead, running 2:17.77. “She had nobody to push her, so it was a mental challenge for her,” Young said. “She had to race the clock the whole time, knowing that she was trying to take a place from girls in the other heat.”
And that’s how it unfolded. In the fast heat, another star Northwest senior runner, Britt Eckerstrom, won in 2:12. Wade ended up running the fourth fastest 800 meter time of the day – and her time was extremely close to the second and third place runners who ran in Eckerstrom’s heat. Wade finished just out of the medals.
“We were left wondering whether Brittney would have beaten them if they had all run in the same race,” Young said, adding that the B-CC supporters present all felt she would have had a good chance. “It’s a good learning experience for next year, but she did really, really well in this race.”
Young said all the girls who competed in states did an excellent job. “Everybody had very good days and it was nice to end the season that way. We’re proud of them no matter what, but we‘re so happy they finished the season so strongly.”
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Writer’s note: Many thanks to Coach Chad Young for taking time after long practices and longer meets to then give an accounting of B-CC track teams’ performances. The stories over the indoor and outdoor season had drama, excitement, and reflected all the hard work of coaches and the team. It’s been a lot of fun to write them.
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