The girls track distance medley is leaving past times in the dust. The team consists of junior Maddy Brown, sophomore Abby Allgeyer, sophomore Rachel Osborne and freshman Rikita Saunders.

“We broke the record and it worked because we are all so close. At practice we just mess around along with the running,” Brown said.

The record was broken at the annual Washington Relay Meet, which consisted of entirely of varsity relay teams. The original time was 13.49 and the team ran the relay at a 13.35.

“It was a pretty big deal because we tried to break the records in other events but missed them by one or two seconds each so it was nice to end on that note. It was a great meet; I loved it,” Allgeyer said.

The distance medley is a relay in which each girl ran a different leg, Allgeyer three laps first, Osborne two laps second, Saunders one lap third and Brown with a mile (four laps) to finish.

“We went in with the intent of breaking the record but mostly we all wanted to do our best. We had raced a lot that day and we just wanted to go out and be a team,” Brown said.

Training for the race included different lengths of running including a mile workout and an 800-leg workout.

“We trained a lot during practice. We tried hitting our paces because it is a longer distance and we needed to train ourselves to speed up and slow down and eventually we just got faster and faster each time,” Allgeyer said. “We are really excited about this year and how we can improve our times.”

The team attributes their success to the personal connection they made during practice.

“We work together so well. We are like the goofiest and most awkward people ever and our personalities are so different, but that is how we click and how we race together, so it’s fun,” Allgeyer said.

Since the distance medley is not a state event, the team is now focusing on the four by eight relay. The relay team includes freshman Jamie Poppen along with Brown, Allgeyer, and Osborne. Each person runs an 800, which is two laps around the track.

“We are hoping to go to state with the four by eight and we are getting really close. We are one of the top times so I am excited about this,” Allgeyer said.