Losing the lead, but leading the heart: how Stutsman, Rodebaugh, Straub and Carr celebrate

BY DANI TIETZ
dani@mahometnews.com

It was the moment that junior high track and field athletes had worked for all season: crossing the finish line with a chance to move on to the IESA State meet.

Of the hundreds who compete at IESA sectional meets, only dozens get to move on. To qualify for the elite state level, athletes must finish in first place or register a state-qualifying time in the event.

Going into their IESA sectional meet at Mount Zion High School on Monday, the Mahomet-Seymour eighth-grade girls’ 4×400-meter relay team knew they had a chance to qualify for state.

Kallie Stutsman, Grace Rodebaugh and Mallory Carr, who ran on the 4×400-meter relay as seventh-graders, were joined by Janel Straub during the 2019 season.

“We didn’t have as good of competition in last year’s sectionals,” Stutsman said.

A year ago, the team moved onto the IESA State meet by placing first, but they did not meet the 2018 qualifying time.

“This year, we were definitely more concerned with getting the (qualifying) time rather than the place,” Stutsman added.

The group hit their goal a week before sectionals by finishing in 4 minutes, 28 seconds at the Clinton Invitational. The time was four seconds under the 2019 state-qualifying time.

They knew they just had to repeat the time again because crossing the finish line in first place at the 2019 sectional meet was not a guarantee.

“We knew that (Normal) Kingsley had a really strong 4×4, too, so we knew that if we want to win or just get state time, we were going to have to push really hard,” Carr said.

The girls admit that running the 400-meter race is a physical and mental challenge.

“Your mental state has to be really good because you want to give up, but you know you can’t,” Straub said.

“You have to know how to run the race to actually be good at it,” Carr said.  

“You can’t just go out there and try to sprint the whole thing because you’re going to be dead by the last 200 meters. It’s a lot of mind games and mental talk: you have to push and pace.”

Each runner said the task is daunting as they reach the final stretch.

“You know you have 100 meters left, and you just have to push,” Straub said.

Just like there is strategy that goes into the 400-meter race, the 4×400-meter relay is no different.

Stutsman lead offs the eight-grade team, giving the Bulldogs a decent start. Rodebaugh then comes in understanding the nuances of cutting through the lanes and breaking away from the pack. Then Straub tries to lengthen the Bulldogs’ gap before handing the baton off to Carr,who runs the anchor leg of the relay.

This is where MSJHS found itself on Monday.

In the final leg of the 4×400-meter relay, Carr was ahead of her Kingsley opponent and on pace to register a qualifying IESA state time.

“Running the anchor is a really hard race, and I knew Kingsley was right on our backs,” Carr said.

“I knew we had a little lead, but I knew that the girl who is the anchor is really good at finishing.

“I just tried to widen that gap as far as I could. Then on that last stretch I could hear her footsteps coming on; but I thought during those last 5 meters ‘I’ve got this,’ but then she comes out of nowhere and passes me.”

But everything the Bulldogs had worked for was not lost. Even though they did not finish first, they still qualified for State with a time of 4:28.62.

And so, the team decided it was time to celebrate: with Kingsley.

Shortly after Carr crossed the finish line, she wrapped her arms around Kingsley’s Cheyenne Howard.

“Honestly, I knew we made it to state,” Carr said. “I was just really happy and I knew she ran a good race; I was honestly just proud of her, too. I was proud of everybody.

“It was just a celebratory hug of (everyone) going to state.”

The Kingsley and Mahomet-Seymour teammates looked on, waiting for their turn to embrace as the girls finished congratulating each other.

It wasn’t as if the girls were strangers, though.

Both Kingsley and Mahomet-Seymour made a point to connect with each other before the race.

“Before our race, we talked to them,” Rodebaugh said. “We told them ‘Good luck’, they told us ‘Good luck.’

“We knew that they had worked just as hard as us. Of course we wanted to win, but we just wanted them to do well, too.

“We were just proud of them since we made that relationship.”

The four girls love track and field because not only do they get to spend time with their friends from school, but they also make new friends throughout the season.

Straub said she and Carr make a point to connect with other runners and even end up communicating with athletes from other schools though Snapchat.

“I feel like track is a really good platform to make new friends with other teams you meet because there are so many kids,” Rodebaugh said.

But there is something special about meeting other 400-meter runners.

“You meet a community of people who are really strong-minded women,” Carr said. “You have to be really dedicated to what you do to run the 400.

“Just meeting them, you realize that they share the same common goals, the same struggles, they know all the strategies you do, so you just understand each other more.”

That connection makes space in the athletes’ heart for compassion.

“It’s really important,” Straub said. “You don’t want to be mean to anyone.”

The Bulldogs plan to meet up with the Kingsley team and other competitors before they run their State race in East Peoria on Saturday.

“We want them to run a good race so that we run a good race,” Carr said.

And, at the end of the day, Stutsman, Straub, Rodebaugh and Carr also want to run well for each other.

“With our time we got at sectionals, I think we are in the top 10 for state,” Carr said. “So we’re honestly just looking to go have a really good time and pushing ourselves as hard as we can.

“If we can, we would like to place, but if we don’t, we are still going to be proud of ourselves for just making it that far.”

Because Stutsman and Straub have chosen to play soccer in high school, the 4×400-meter race will be their final track race.

“We’re just going to leave it all out there,” Stutsman said.

“I love this team so much,” she continued. “These teammates are like the sisters I’ve never had because I’m an only child. So I just love them, they support me in everything I do, and I am just so thankful for these girls.”