JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – The Class 4 girls opted to start the 3,200-meter run relaxed and even-paced.
As the second half of the race started, Cor Jesu’s Jill Whitman began to see her opening to make an early move and push the pace.
“I don’t have the best 100 meter kick in the world, so I didn’t want it to come down to that,” Whitman said. “I talked to my coaches and the idea was to stay in the pack and if I felt it to start pushing the last 700 meters. I wanted to give it my all the last lap.”
Whitman started cranking up the pace just as she had planned and ran a final lap 1:11 to claim her first state title in 10:51.29 at the Class 4 state track meet Friday at Dwight T. Reed Stadium.
Whitman, who was runner-up in the event last year as a sophomore, was a little surprised by her own performance. By her account, this season started slowly, and she wasn’t producing times anywhere near her state performance in 2012. Then at districts things started to flip in her favor.
“It means so much because I never would have expected it coming into this season,” Whitman said. “I was not running my times like last year. At districts I PR’d by four seconds from my PR at state last year. That was 14 seconds faster than anything I had run this season. I got a little bit of hope that making it to state and running at state was possible.”
She ran a new PR at districts of 11:06 and replicated that performance at sectionals to advance to the state meet. And her recent success gave her the confidence in her race and her strategy to be patient and make the race hers before it became a sprint.
“Whenever I take the lead I’m just terrified of being caught,” Whitman said. “I thought, ‘this could be your chance; it could be a once in a lifetime opportunity.’ So I went for it.”