OMAHA — The Chase County girls track and field team is off to a strong start in defending its Class C state championship thanks to the performance of some of its youngest members.
The Longhorn 4x800 relay team of Olivia Spady, Miranda Spady, Landree McNair and Ashlyn Heermann entered state as the No. 4 seed with not a lot of expectations to win the race on Friday.
St. Cecilia was favored after posting the only seed time below 10 minutes, so beating them was a tough task. But as Heermann hustled down the final stretch with a sizable lead, the moment started to sink in.
These Chase County girls, on a team known for a recent legacy of champions, were now wearing gold around their necks.
“It honestly feels so surreal,” Olivia Spady said. “I mean, we’re two freshmen and two sophomores, which is absolutely crazy. We’re new, and I’d say we went out there and gave it our all. We’ve been working hard for this all season, and we just left it all out there on the track.”
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This made all the days of training in the rain, wind and heat worth it. This season had some of the most unpredictable weather, and the 4x800 team found ways to overcome all of it.
They also found support in each other, helping each other get better and grow in confidence. Miranda Spady admitted she might not have even gotten on the track if it wasn’t for the support of her fellow 4x800 teammates.
“I get so nervous and they just keep me so calm,” Miranda Spady said. “It’s the team aspect that really brought us home.”
It’s not just the support of each other that drives them. It’s the support of all their teammates competing at state and all their family and friends that made the trip to watch the team compete.
And those same family and friends were cheering Heermann to the finish line on the home stretch, celebrating the start to what could be a strong Chase County performance this year.
“We really weren’t planning on it,” McNair said. “We were like, ‘You know what, we’re ranked fourth. We’re going to go out and run.’ That’s exactly what we did.”
Just go out and run. At the end of the day, Chase County did just that, and they added to the recent legacy left behind by the Longhorn girls.
“That’s the mindset of Chase County,” McNair said. “It’s not where you place or anything. The reason our culture is so good is because we don’t care at the end of the day. We run and support each other, and that’s all we can do.”
