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By Jim Steele
steele@mckenziebanner.com |
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MEMPHIS - When McKenzie senior Sarah Hartz left the
Briarcrest Christian School track, having completed her
state 800-meter run, she greeted well-wishers with a
bittersweet demeanor.
Hartz took fifth place in the state 800, running a
2:29.49, which pleased her. But she was grimacing at the
fact that she didn't do better.
"I'm satisfied, but at the same time, I'm a little
disappointed, too," said Hartz while ambiguously
studying her fifth-place medal. "I felt pretty good
starting off, but I am used to starting a little
slower."
Hartz broke early from the starting gate and sagged back
between third and fourth place, but was running at a
pretty good pace. At the first turn, Hartz was fourth,
but moved into third down the back stretch. She moved to
fourth again on the fourth turn and battled to stay
there through the next three corners.
Down the home
stretch, Hartz may have had little in the tank as
Jackson Christian School's Lindsey Flynn edged around
her for fourth place. Hartz kept maintained a steady
pace to the finish line.
Jacklyn Talbert of Volunteer won the event with a
2:20.45.
"I might have used it up early," said Hartz. "I was
disappointed that I didn't improve my time a little
bit."
McKenzie track coach David Duncan said he had no
problems with the race Hartz ran.
"I thought she did a good job against tough
competition," he said. "She was right with everyone.
It's not like anyone ran away from her."
Hartz said she approached the race with relative
serenity.
"I wasn't really nervous at all," said Hartz. "I prayed
all day about it and felt pretty good. You know, there's
no real pressure to advance, I mean, this is it. But
there was still personal pressure for me because it's my
last time to run."
Harpeth's Kristi Emsminger was second at 2:22.45; CPA's
Elizabeth Smothers was third at 2:25.80; Flynn finished
at 2:27.96; Happy Valley's Katie Williams was sixth at
2:30.01; East Ridge's Maggie Haddock was seventh at
2:30.10 and Aubrey Morris of Chattanooga Christan was
eight at 2:30.19.
"Sarah has had four good years of track. I remember when
she started, she ran a 3:09 in her first race, so she's
come a long way," Duncan said. "She's gone through some
hard workouts and probably had days where she didn't
like track a whole lot, but it paid off for her."
