After a year of ups and downs, beginning with a third place finish at the Red and White opening meet on March 15 and culminating with a group of seven athletes heading to the State meet, the Lady Lancer track team’s 2011 season came to a close after producing three top 20 State athletes.

Senior Alyssa Shaw came through the varsity girls pole vault finals to place 13^that State, with a final vault of 9-06, while junior Mackenzie Schweitz placed the highest of any Lady Lancer at State with a 11^thplace finish in the high jump with her final jump of 5-00 and junior Sydnee Stottlemyre managed to place 16^th in the triple jump with her jump of 33-07.

Unfortunately, amid this success, the Lady Lancer 200-meter relay, headed by seniors Anastasia Harris and Heather Meyer and sophomores Maddie Abell and Arianna Demos, failed to qualify out of preliminaries, ending their season with a 12^th place preliminary finish at State with a time of 1:47.73.

Shaw and Stottlemyre both equated their successes to hard work, concentration and coaching.

Shaw explained what went into her State run, saying, “It took a whole lot of practice and concentration. At State there are other events going on, awards being handed out, an extremely loud crowd and lots of cheering from on the field.”

Stottlemyre agreed, “Coming off of a torn PCL injury, most of my season was about preparing for Districts, Sectionals and State. My coaches did an amazing job helping me rebound from that injury, which ultimately lead me to the state meet.

“Though I jumped a foot less than my sophomore year, I couldn’t be happier with my performance since it was a tough year for me psychically,” she continued.

Both athletes said competing in the State meet was a rewarding experience.

As Stottlemyre put it, “State was amazing. It’s a pretty awesome feeling walking into the Lincoln University stadium to see the entire place packed and know all your hard work paid off.”

Shaw said, “It was so much fun to get away from home and just focus on track. I never really got to see everyone do their event because they all went on at the same time, but at state there were two different classes there and so many heats of races that i got to see everyone from our team compete.”

For Shaw, a senior, the end of this season also means the end of her high school vaulting career.

“You have no idea how hard it is to leave track. It was my favorite sport and I always looked forward to it. I will mostly miss the team though. The girls are encouraging and the coaches are amazing,” she said.

However, Shaw is not the only loss for the Lady Lancers. Along with the class of 2011, Head Coach Marty Margalski announced his retirement, making State all the more meaningful for the girls.

As Stottlemyre put it, “It was the ultimate celebration of so many great years of coaching Track & Field for Coach Margalski, who I know will be missed dearly!”

Even though the girls leave this season with mixed emotions, they look back fondly at the 2011 season.

“The team did really well this year. We placed in the top three at most of the meets, I believe,” Shaw said.

Stottlemyre agreed, “Overall I think we had a lot of brilliant moments that helped shape a successful season. The good news is that a lot of fresh talent from this year will be around next season.”