BLOOMINGTON — Morgan Baker didn’t feel like the Lady Hubs had done anything special after the senior completed her leg of the 1600-meter relay at the 2018 Illinois Top Times Indoor State Championships this past weekend.

Baker and her relay partners (seniors Cesca Vardman, Morgan Knight and Jacie Wyatt) medaled in eighth place at the state meet, but more importantly, the Rochelle girls crushed their seed time by nearly five seconds. The girls clocked in at 4:12.98 to set a new Rochelle Township High School indoor track and field record in the 1600-meter relay.

“It didn’t really feel like we set a new record,” Baker said. “I remember finished and not realizing that we broke out record. I felt really happy knowing that we ran faster than we did last year, but I also know that this is just one step toward the journey to May. There are a lot of competitive 1600-meter relay teams this year and we have to keep working hard to compete.”

Rochelle’s girls track and field team qualified competitors for three events at the indoor state meet including the 1600-meter relay. The Lady Hubs medaled in seventh place for the 800-meter relay, with Baker, sophomore Macey Ryan, Vardman and Wyatt finishing just 0.16 seconds behind their school-record time set at this year’s Northern Illinois Big 12 Conference Meet. The girls struck the finish line in 1:49.71 at the indoor state meet.

“I think we completed well in the event,” said Ryan, who helped Rochelle qualify for the 800-meter relay last year but couldn’t race due to an illness. “There are so many good teams that we competed against and we won our heat which was exciting. Getting seventh overall just made the experience better… It was great finally being able to go with my teammates and I’m glad I could run and be a part of the indoor state meet this year.”

Four of the five girls (Baker, Knight, Vardman and Wyatt) raced at the indoor state meet last year, and the girls said they took the track in Bloomington with more confidence and fewer nerves than they had in 2017. The girls placed in just one of their two relays at last year’s indoor state meet, but with more experience this time around, the girls placed in both relay events.

“This year we were able to feel like we belonged at the meet more than we did last year,” Knight said. “We were less intimidated by the level of the competition, and we were able to just run, compete and not worry about what the other teams were doing.”

Wyatt was the only Lady Hub to qualify for an individual event this year, and the senior tied her personal record in the high jump with a clearance of 5-2 to place seventh at the indoor state meet. Wyatt also jumped 5-2 at the conference meet, and she said some positive words of encouragement helped her stay calm in her first time high jumping at the state level.

“It was a little nerve-racking high jumping at the state meet for the first time,” Wyatt said. “But I just kept remembering my coaches telling me to have fun and I did. It was nice to have my coaches to talk to after every jump, and they’ve helped me improve a lot… There’s always such a competitive atmosphere whenever we’re competing at a state level.”

With the indoor track and field season now complete, the Lady Hubs will begin transitioning to the outdoor season. Rochelle will battle in its first outdoor meet just a few weeks from now, and the Lady Hubs are eager to get outside and continue working hard.

“For me track doesn’t feel like track until the outdoor season starts,” Vardman said. “Running on an outdoor track is so much better… The atmosphere at the indoor state meet was great. The competition was really nice to see because those are going to be the same teams we will see in the outdoor season.”