On Feb. 29, the track team traveled to Richmond to compete in the Statewide competition. Freshman Abby Campillo was part of the advancing team, running in the 1000 and 4×800 relay. In the 1000 she placed 13th and her 4×800 relay team placed 10th. She was prepared by distance coach, Jerry Hertzler.

“I didn’t really know what to expect except for really fast people, which there were a lot of. My coach prepared and trained me for these meets during the season, so it’s really nothing I did myself,” Campillo said.

During the race, Campillo was focusing on the strategy given to her by Coach Hertzler.

“I was super nervous before my races, but now I’m not sure why. I did feel comfortable competing and racing the people around me. My coach told me to stick with my competitors and let them set the pace, then beat them at the end. I actually lost track of how many laps I had left, and I thought I had an extra one,” Campillo said. “I didn’t beat my times at states, but I ran pretty close to them. [I would have done better if] I could have started picking up my speed a little bit earlier in the race.”

Campillo believes her coach was happy with her race even though she didn’t break her personal record.

“In the 4×800, he knew that I would have liked to drop my time, but we were all really excited because our relay dropped 3 seconds total, thanks to Molly Campillo, my sister, and Faith Eberly,” Campillo said. “In the 1000, he also knew that I would have liked to drop my time, but he was still very happy with my race.”

Campillo was greatly supported in her runs by family as well as her coaches.

“My coaches just wanted me to do my best, and run a good race. My parents came to cheer for me and my sister, and they were really happy for us. They also wanted us to do our best, but they didn’t give us any pressure,” Campillo said.

Campillo enjoyed both running and watching the races.

“The meet was really exciting, and everyone did an amazing job. A lot of people dropped time, and it was fun to watch all of the races. It was crazy how fast everyone was there. I also had a great time hanging out with everyone. We all played a lot of games when we weren’t running.

I think that [the team was] really excited for everyone,” Campillo said.

Hertzler was enjoyed watching the events of the races unfold as well.

“Each [race] was different. I enjoy watching our athletes compete at an extremely high level.  That is the great thing about the state meet.  Very few people get there even though everyone wants to,” Hertzler said.