Dustin Horter won the 1600m and 3200m races at the Divison 1 Region 4 - Dayton meet.
Despite the rainy weather two days prior, it was a beautiful day at Welcome Stadium. It was about 80 degrees with 5 to 10 mph winds. The plan was to double the 1600m and 3200m just to qualify in both. I personally wanted to push the pace in the 1600m and attempt to get the record, but the objective in the 3200m was strictly to qualify for states.
I did my regular 1.5 mile warm up with my brother Dillon Horter and then I did my stretches, drills and strides. Even though we did some tough workouts earlier in the week at practice, I was feeling smooth and ready to run. We all ran up to the line and the gun went off. As usual, I moved to the front immediately and I came through the first 200m in 27 - 28 seconds feeling good and full of adrenaline. I kept that same pace through 400m and I came out really fast in 57. Honestly calling it a 57 is generous and I don't really have an explanation for why I went out that fast, but I had to roll with it at that point. I came through the 800m mark in about 2:01 - 2:02 so I had obviously relaxed a little. The third lap was too relaxed and it probably cost me the regional record. I ended up coming through the 1200m split in a high 3:07 with about a 65 second lap. I hit the gas on the last lap and tried to recover some of that time I lost on the third lap. I wasn't trying to overexert, just barely slide under the record, but unfortunately I missed it by .05. As disappointing as that was to hear, I had another race to prepare for and I felt very smooth during the race running 4:09.72. I had no worries about going faster at the state championship.
Dustin Horter just missed the Division 1 Region 4 - Dayton meet record in the 1600m race.
After I received my medal, I immediately went out for another warm up of 1.5 miles to prepare for the 3200m. Putting the 1600m behind me, my focus was qualifying for states with as much ease and reservation as possible. As the gun sounded, I went out more relaxed than normal and I ended up getting boxed in. I definitely learned my lesson to never get out too slow again through this experience. Through 350m I was still boxed until I made a move out in lane 3 to move to the front. The first lap was a 71. I was thrown off by this split, as I can't remember a time I had ever gone out in a race that slow. I stayed fairly consistent with 68, 69, 70 splits throughout the race and came through the first 1600m in around 4:38. I was not pushing hard, but I kept up running anywhere from 68 - 70 throughout the second mile and there really wasn't much action beyond that. I ended up running 9:19.62 and I was perfectly happy with that time. By no means were either of my races the most exciting this year, but I did what I had to do to qualify. Now it's time to run at states!
Dustin Horter's goal was to qualify for the state championship in the 1600m & 3200m races.