File:Track 2018, Elly McGillivary, State Track Title from The Frederick News Post, May 25, 2018.jpg: Difference between revisions

Brunswick High School Track

Step by step to state track titles by Greg Swatek Frederick News Post May 25, 2018

BALTIMORE — While Oakdale’s Amani Walker wrestled with her steps in her head, Brunswick’s Elly McGillivray did her typically dutiful job of making sure she didn’t fall too many steps behind.

Walker, a senior and relative newcomer to track and field, overcame a poor start in the Class 2A girls triple jump to win her first state title. She matched her personal-best distance by leaping 36 feet, 11 inches on her final attempt of the meet after struggling to get her steps right for most of the event.

McGillivray, meanwhile, overcame a five-second deficit on the final two laps of the 1A girls 3,200-meter run to claim her second state title. A senior and inspirational leader for the rest of her team, she pulled away from the rest of the field and crossed the finish line in 11 minutes, 44.05 seconds, breaking the 12-minute barrier in the 3,200 for the first time.

Walker and McGillivray were the champions from Frederick County on the first day of the state meet, featuring 2A and 1A schools, Thursday at Morgan State’s Hughes Stadium.

“It’s very exciting. I did not come out here expecting that,” said McGillivray, who previously won a state indoor title in the 3,200 in 2017, overcoming a big deficit in the late stages of that race, too.

Rather than push the pace and run with the early lead, McGillivray prefers to pace herself off a runner who is in front of her. She has turned that strategy into an art form. Sometimes, it can seem like she is falling too far behind. Yet, she usually finds a way to close the gap and pull in front right at the critical moments.

“The times that I have started out front, I’ve found that it’s easy to get lost and then kind of pull back, and then everyone will kind of catch up to you,” she said. “I kind of lose my pace. So, I kind of like pacing off of someone, even if they are quite a bit ahead of me.”

At the state indoor meet last year, McGillivray trailed Boonsboro’s Maggie Luzier by roughly 50 meters with three abbreviated laps to go before passing her on the final lap and winning by a comfortable margin (18 seconds).

On Thursday, she tracked down Sparrows Point freshman Macy Gerbes, who enjoyed a sizable advantage for most of the race before collapsing on the final lap and needing assistance to get off the track. McGillivray had already passed her by that point.

Catoctin’s Rachel Waldron wound up finishing second but more than 36 seconds behind McGillivray in 12:19.67.

“It’s a great accomplishment. We are all very excited for Elly,” Brunswick coach Anne Zumbach said. “But it’s not like this is the end for her. She still has the 1,600 on Saturday.”

Right around the time McGillivray was crossing the finish line, Walker was struggling to find her form over at the triple jump.

“It’s the most irritating thing,” she said. “You are supposed to take 16 steps total, but then I kept going on 15. I was like, ‘I don’t know what to do.’ I’ll take a step back, but then I am still at 15 and still on the wrong foot.

“It’s more mental than anything because the more you stress about it, the more you will stutter or you’ll just overstep a boundary or scratch your mark.”

So, to get herself out of her own head, she began watching the races on the track and thinking ahead to the 800 relay, which she still had to run with her teammates.

“I just had to stop thinking about [the steps],” she said.

Walker is a tall, natural athlete.

“If I could put her in 10 events, I would,” Oakdale coach Adell Remsburg said. “She is a beast and good at just about everything.”

Walker’s primary sport is volleyball. But she carved out some time in her busy schedule to give indoor track a try last season and qualified for the state meet in the high jump.

This spring, she has thrown herself into outdoor track for the first time and excelled for the Bears in a number of different events. She qualified for states in four events, including the high jump and 200 dash.

“I feel like [winning a state title] hasn’t hit me yet,” she said. “I am excited. But when I actually get the [triple jump] medal, I’ll be like, ‘Dang, I won states. That’s crazy.’”

Among the top Frederick County finishers in Thursday’s meet were Middletown’s Kayla Rademacher, who finished second in the 2A girls discus; the Oakdale boys 3,200 relay team, which finished second in 8:04.14; the Bears’ George Stultz, who finished third in the 2A long jump; and Walkersville’s Quinn Mchood, who finished third in the 2A pole vault.