Every so often in the hustle bustle of our daily lives, it is so nice to be able to reflect back to much simpler times. For those of us that ran Cross Country and Track in high school and college, it is often back to those times when we ran with carefree abandon. Some of us were champions, some of us were not. We certainly do not remember entire races, but portions of them; from the moment when we may have crossed the finish line in one race, to a particular exchange, to a start, to an injury, to a particular day, to a fall or trip, to being on the podium, to a conversation or to just something a coach said to us or to the team. We grew up and went on with our lives, just as those before us and those after us will, but it is these times when we do and can reflect back that make up part of our lives.
For me, in terms of those running memories, I have been very fortunate for the past four and a half years to write for OHRunners and now Ohio Milesplit, and watch, photograph and interview some of the best athletes in Ohio and the nation. Every time I am privileged to go to a State meet, whether XC or track, it brings back the myriad of memories that I have of running in high school and college. In the fall of 2011, at the State Cross Country meet, two young ladies started their high school running careers. I have watched both of them become State Champions in Cross Country and in Track. I have watched them both in their successes and in their disappointments. I have watched them grow from young teenagers to the young ladies that they are now. Of course, they are not the only young men and women I have watched, but they both exemplify, like many others, how Cross country and Track & Field help develop and shape us into the individuals that we are. These two young girls, and now women, are Brittany Atkinson of Liberty Center and Sarah Kanney of Coldwater.
Brittany and Sarah have both just finished their high school Cross Country careers and are moving on to Track. They are not done. Here is a list of their State accomplishments as rivals in Cross Country over the past four years and in Track. They are in different divisions in Track.
1,600 Meter Run
- 7 runs: 6 –wins, 1 - 3rd
3,200 Meter Run
- 10:53.48 1st 2014-06-06 OHSAA State Track and Field Championship
- 11:03.73 4th 2013-06-07 OHSAA State Track and Field Championship
- 17 runs: 13 wins, 2 - 2nd, 1 - 4th , 1 - 6th
5,000 Meter Run
- 18:05.54 2nd 2014-11-01 OHSAA Ohio State Cross Country Championship
- 18:31.45 1st 2013-11-02 OHSAA Ohio State Cross Country Championship
- 18:06.67 2nd 2012-11-03 OHSAA Ohio State Cross Country Championship
- 18:27.51 1st 2011-11-05 OHSAA Ohio State Cross Country Championship
- 37 runs: 26 wins, 5 - 2nd, 3 - 3rd, 1- 5th
1,600 Meter Run
- 4:53.66 3rd 2014-06-06 OHSAA State Track and Field Championship
- 4:55.26 1st 2013-06-07 OHSAA State Track and Field Championship
- 5:00.97 1st 2012-06-01 OHSAA State Track and Field Championship
- 27 runs: 25 wins, 1 - 2nd, 1 - 3rd
3,200 Meter Run
- 11:09.39 3rd 2012-06-01 OHSAA State Track and Field Championship
- 9 runs: 8 wins, 1 – 3rd
5,000 Meter Run
- 18:00.11 1st 2014-11-01 OHSAA Ohio State Cross Country Championship
- 18:51.13 4th 2013-11-02 OHSAA Ohio State Cross Country Championship
- 17:58.03 1st 2012-11-03 OHSAA Ohio State Cross Country Championship
- 19:10.56 9th 2011-11-05 OHSAA Ohio State Cross Country Championship
- 38 runs: 35 wins, 1 - 2nd, 1 - 4th, 1 - 9th
800 Meter Run
- 2:12.75 3rd 2013-06-07 OHSAA State Track and Field Championship
- 21 runs: 13 wins, 5 - 2nd, 2 - 3rd, 1 - 12th
They have created their memories and just as all of us other runners, they will look back at those memories and how those running memories helped to shape their adult lives. Brittany and Sarah are moving on. Brittany to Ohio State University and Sarah to North Carolina State University where they will continue their running careers, but what they have given us, their part in Ohio running history, will remain for them and all of us and will become part of their individual and of our collective running memories.
Thank you Brittany and Sarah and thank you to all of our Seniors!
In Sync for Four Years
Competitors, Rivals & Friends!
(Photos Courtesy of Chris Greene. Ohio Milesplit 2014 State Meet.)
