It was only fitting that the first place trophy from the Girls Class 3 State Track and Field Championships resided in the Waterbury household Saturday night.
MICDS senior Lauren Waterbury was a major reason that the Rams were celebrating their first ever girls state team title.
Waterbury scored 40 points herself, winning three individual gold medals and added another on a relay. The Rams finished with 71 points while second place Festus had 45. Waterbury's 40 points were more than the third place team, Lincoln College Prep. Lincoln finished with 36 points
Waterbury had the unique experience of standing on the No. 1 podium five times Saturday at Lincoln University in Jefferson City. The fifth time was the exclamation point to a stellar career for Waterbury, who will run track next year at Brown University. "It was just so unbelievable to be standing there with the rest of the team and see all the smiling faces," Waterbury said. "It is the first time the team has won and everyone was so excited. It was a surreal experience. Everybody was in the best mood on the way home."
It was a different ride back from Jefferson City to St. Louis then the one Waterbury experienced last spring. Waterbury had an outstanding meet but none of her events resulted in a first place finish. Waterbury was second in the long jump, the 4x200-meter relay and the 200-meter dash in 2010. She had also finished twice as a sophomore, in the 4x200 and the long jump "I remember that ride home last year," MICDS coach Jim Lohr said. "I told Lauren that next year we were going to leave Jefferson City with four gold medals around her neck. That was the plan."
And the plan worked to perfection thanks to great off-season work by Waterbury, which climaxed with special efforts in her final high school track meet.
The championship in the long jump was especially gratifying to Waterbury. She had been in the lead going into the final jump as a sophomore and junior and was beaten both times by Maryville's Jordan Stiens.
The roles were reversed this season as Waterbury, who had the best jump in the prelims and thus jumped last, was in second place to Sullivan's Mary Ritter going into her final jump. "The thought of how I felt the last couple of years definitely crossed my mind," Waterbury said. "I liked the fact that I was last to jump and that the pressure was on. I like that kind of a situation."
And she responded with a state champion jump of 18-5. Ritter finished second with her jump of 17-10.25. That set the tone for what was going to be a day for the ages for the Ram senior.
The four gold medals came within a span of less than six hours. She ran the anchor leg in the champion 4x200-meter relay team with junior Heather Cousins and sophomores Cameron Jackson and CeCe Moore. They won with a time of 1:42.24. University City was second, running a 1:43.44. That was a huge win for the Rams, especially since all four girls were on the relay team which finished second last year.
Waterbury then won the 400-meter dash, an event she did not run at state last year (her fourth event was the triple jump in 2010). She had a time of 55.43, which was over a second faster than Lexie Oak of St. Pius, who finished second.
Waterbury capped off her high school career with a win in the 200-meters. This one was much closer than the 400 as Waterbury won by .08 of a second. Her time was 24.79. Cardinal Ritter's Ayesha Ewing was second in 24.87. "It was such a great and fitting end to the high school career of a special athlete," Lohr said. "Lauren has been an inspiration to all. She was clearly looked up to not only by her own teammates but by her opponents as the girl to beat. Her efforts and work ethic were huge in the overall success for our team. Her teammates wanted to try and catch her in every practice."
That didn't happen often and certainly didn't happen on a Saturday in Jefferson City that will never be forgotten by Waterbury or her Ram teammates.
