The Saint Mary’s Academy Belles girl’s track and field team built a bond of talent and teamwork which helped them excel in the Division IV Southern Section Championships and compete in the CIF State Meet.
“The joy for me was seeing them strengthen those areas of themselves that they knew that they were strong in and sharing that strength with their team,” said St. Mary’s Academy head of school Dr. Brandi Odom-Lucas.
They won the Southern Section girl’s 4x100m relay with a 47.11 record, their 3:47.9 record in the girl’s 4x400m relay would put them in first place. Senior Jayla Cigar-Dingle came in second in the 100m finals with an 11.83 record and third in the 200m, running 24.06.
“This year, the team is so awesome,” said Jacqueline Scott, the grandmother of junior Diana Scott. “They have such an awesome coach, coach Robert King. He has a different way of training them where they love it even though they go home and they just drop.”
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Sophomore A’Shari Hobbs placed third in the 800m with a 2:19.82 record. Junior Diana Scott came in third for the 400m, running 56.37.
St. Mary’s qualified for the CIF State relays along with the 100m, 200m, and 400m. Junior Eden Oje explained how the competition in the Southern Section aided the Belles.
“There’s so much competition, it really pushes us every meet to do our best and go out on to the track and execute what we learned in practice,” Oje said. “When we step into the meets and go to these higher level meets, we’re more prepared and ready for what we’re about to face.”
The relay teams included runners who normally compete in long-distance events. Track and field coach Robert King would put Diana in different events to get points. This helped Diana improve her speed.
“I was accustomed to cross country,” Diana said. “Having the 400 practices and workouts really helped my speed because 400s are very versatile with the endurance and the speed.”
Junior Madison Mobly was sidelined with a hamstring injury and could not compete in the State meet for the 400m and the 4x400m. Hobbs had to step up on her behalf and make the team proud.
“I’m so nervous running anchor because it’s like everybody puts their fastest girl on anchor and I’m not the fastest girl on the team,” Hobbs said. “My team definitely does help me a lot and say “you just got to bring this one home, just got to have a good time. Don’t even worry about the place, just worry about the time.”
Competing in the Prairie View and the Little Field Relays in Texas helped the team be more confident.
“This was our first really big meet of the year, we wasn’t sure how we was going to do,” Cigar-Dingle said. “We knew we was running fast but we didn’t know we was gonna get that fast. Then, we was put against these bigger teams, we ended up winning.”
Team chemistry played a role for St. Mary’s Academy while they competed in Texas.
“Our handoffs were really, really good,” Mosby said. “For us to go out there and run the 4x100m the way we did was absolutely amazing.”
During this season, sophomore Elle McCrimmon learned how to be a hurdler. She ultimately came in sixth in the 300m hurdles at the Southern Section championship finals.
“Track, it’s gonna make or break you and it’s broke most of us in multiple occasions,” McCrimmon said. “In the end, it’s made us into the women that we are today, women of distinction, and it has really shaped us.”
