Among the stories of success at the RIT Track and Field Meet was the women’s 4×400 relay team, who placed first in their event.
“This was such a fun race for all of us. The intensity was high in the KPAC and we all knew the importance of this race, knowing how close we were to breaking the school record,” related Emily Fox ‘20. “We had run the best we had all season, all thanks to our amazing coaching staff. It was a race to remember with an overall team improvement to 32 PRs (Personal Records).”
All of the runners interviewed mentioned how they valued competing together as a team.
“We all want to run our fastest, and there is some intra-team competition, but we also want each person to be at their highest level, as well, to make us the best team we could possibly be,” said sophomore Gwen Stokes.
Despite the sense of competition, Stokes explained that the relay prompted the team to act as a whole. “The 4x400m is always one of my favorite events because the whole team comes together to not only race, with the four of us who are running for each other, but also the entire team, who always cheers,” she explained. “It is so nice to run for the team instead of yourself.”
She went on to speak specifically about how it felt to win a relay, opposed to as a solitary runner. “To me succeeding in a relay event versus an individual event is much more meaningful, as it means that not only did I have a great day, but some of my best friends and teammates also had an awesome day,” she reflected. “It shows everyone how hard we all are working as a collective team, and doesn’t just highlight me as an individual.“ “The 4x400m relay is always the last event of a track meet, so at this point, each of us had already competed in at least one individual event, and some of us had competed in two events, and it was probably close to 5 hours after the meet had started,” explained Stokes, “but we had to maintain our intensity, energy, and competitive spirit long past the start of the meet even while we may have been tired.” Elisabeth Tate ‘21 credited her ability to maintain her enthusiasm and pass it on to the other members of the team, saying, “I usually don’t like racing, but working with these girls was energetic and exciting.”
When asked how she prepared for the relay’s success, Stokes answered, “At this meet, I was not originally supposed to run the relay, but I was asked to fill in shortly before we needed to begin warming up.” Despite the surprise change of plans, Stokes was ready to compete thanks to her work in practicing for other events. “In general, we have prepared as a team for the 4x400m relay by working hard in practice every day and pushing each other to our best,” she explained.
Coach Patrick Hager expressed confidence in the future success of the team, especially in the 4x400m. “We have 5 of the top 8 fastest times in the conference thus far, and it’s late into the season,” he commented. “So we have no shortage of options to run a team that can compete with the best in the conference. Make no mistake that our goal on 2/24 is to win that relay and qualify for the All Atlantic Regional Championships (4:07).”
Fox shared Hager’s optimism for the event, saying “Our next step forward is a goal to win the Empire 8 conference and to be E8 Champs in the 4x400m and to qualify for the All Atlantic Regional Championships!”