Gator Relay Team Boils Over With Chemistry

Chemistry, camaraderie, call it what you will; the Land O' Lakes girls relay team has it.

“They always practice together, run together, they hang out after school together,” said Land O’ Lakes Track Coach Rock Ridgeway.

The relay team consists of: senior Nicole Woodard, senior Samantha Austin, junior Alyssa Lonsway, and freshman Hallie Grimes. The same four girls that run the 4x100m relay are the same girls that run the 4x400m relay. They have run those relays all season long.

“I tried to take Hallie out of the 4x100m team because she’s running the 4x4 and the 400 but they refused to break up the team,” said Ridgeway.

Ridgeway is not known as a flexible person.

“He’s not the type of coach you argue with,” Grimes said.

The girls bent his will in this round and will compete today with both relay teams intact.

Woodard, a senior, is a district champion jumper and picks up legs in the 100m and 400m relays. Nicole will also be competing at states in high and long jump.

Austin, also a senior, is a Land O’ Lakes track veteran and is a great sprinter on her own. Samantha, or “Sam” finished third at districts this year in the open 400m with a time of 1:00.88 minutes. Sam also made the finals at regionals this year, placing sixth, a little more than one second away from qualifying for states. If she had run her preliminary time of 1:00.09 minutes in the finals, she would have made it.

Lonsway, a junior, specializes in the shorter distances like the 100m and 200m but can crush out a 400m with the best of them. At this year’s district meet, Alyssa made the finals in a very tough field of 100m sprinters. She finished eighth overall with a time of 13.52 seconds. If she is the slowest leg of the 4x400m team, she is the fastest leg of the 4x100m team.

Grimes, a freshman, anchors the 4x400m team and could be the best 400m runner the school has ever had. If the girls 4x4 team is close to the lead going into the last leg, they stand a good chance of winning a state title.

The 4x100m team took second at districts this year and fourth at regionals. The best time they ran was 50.58 seconds at regionals. A time like that won’t come close to getting into finals in the 4x100m at states but with three of the four girls specializing in other events, it’s a darn good time.

“They’ve broke their own school record three times this year,” said Ridgeway.

The 4x400m however, has an outside shot at making finals at states.

The girls ran a 4:05.89 minute race at districts this year to claim the district crown and a 4:09.23 minute race at regionals to take second place. Again, fatigue might have played a factor as Samantha and Hallie also ran the open 400m prelims and finals, while Nicole was competing in long and high jump. They made finals in 4x100m as a team so they all ran that race twice as well. The girls will have to rally and run better than they’ve run all year. They will have to crack the four-minute mark if they want to place at states this year.

“This is the hardest-working group I’ve ever had here,” said Ridgeway. “They’ve owned the school record all year and break it almost every meet. It’s just a great group of girls and boy am I gonna miss those two seniors next year.”

Check back with Patch for an update on states.