It was a rainy Saturday in June, not the best weather to run the 2001 All State Meet in. Coming off of 1st place in the 100m and the 4 by 100 at Class B’s the week earlier, I had confidence in going into the meet and leaving with a smile on my face. Because of the rain, a lot of athletes warmed up and stretched in the main union at Worcester State. I thought it would make a lot of sense to stay warm in there and keep checking on when they called for the 100. I decided to leave with what I thought would be a lot of time before check in and as I was leaving, our assistant coach at the time, Pat Beith, was walking in to tell me they had just made a first call.
I made it to the tent in the middle of the stadium and I asked an official if he was checking us in. He said the list just went to the computer. I couldn’t believe I might not get a chance to run in even the preliminaries. Another official brought me over to the computer and stuck me in the last heat in lane 8. Lane 8 was the closest to the stands and they weren’t using that lane for any other race because umbrellas were hanging over the edge and they didn’t have a decent pair of blocks for the lane either. Without going into details about my race, I didn’t even make semi finals. The feeling of crossing the finish line that day knowing I wasn’t going on was one of the worst feelings I still have ever experienced in track. If I had run my best, I would have been satisfied just getting there, but that was not the case. As upset as I was however, I still had something to look forward to and prepare for.
Our relay team was seeded 2nd and we knew with 4 strong legs and perfect handoffs
that we could take the State Title for the first time since the era of Melody
Johnson’s crew. I tried to push my experience earlier in the day to the
back on my mind and concentrate on the relay. I knew everything had to have
happened for a reason. Amy, Dewey, Erin and I had worked so hard all season
and as we warmed up, I was determined to forget about everything except the
relay.
The torrential rain fortunately stopped right before the start of the relay.
We were in the seeded heat going up against top seed Hamilton Wenham, and other
strong teams such as Central Catholic, Hopkinton and Brockton. Well, I never
saw the back of any of those uniforms. We had a lead by the time I got the baton
for the last straightaway. I crossed the same finish line I had crossed earlier
that day, only this time I felt like the sun had come out especially for North
Attleboro. We had won a State Championship. We had done what we had worked so
hard to do all season and our coaches could do nothing except beam with pride.
My day that started with dark clouds of rain and disappointment, ended with
endless rays of sun in more ways than one. Without running in the relay, my
sophomore year of track would have ended in a more than disappointing way. Instead,
I had the opportunity to celebrate a state championship with my teammates and
go on to New Englands. I was confident that I was going to be able to leave
the meet with a smile, and I did.
Coach Estey's note. I had the opportunity
to share the highs and the lows with the team that day. It became one of the
most memorable and indeed, it looked like the sun shone just for North Attleboro
in the relay that day. Caitlin was fortunate to have a second event. One of
the best things about being a multi-event performer is that your whole day doesn't
rest on one performance. That is why I recommend to athletes todo more than
one event. You get other opportunities to make up for a mistake, or in Caitlin's
case a poor job by the seeding official that day. He seeded the event and sent
the sheet off before the final call was made.