At the Hayward Premiere meet, the women’s 4×400 relay team placed second in their race. The runners, freshman Madison Thompson, senior Kay Lester, senior Madison Child and junior Meridith Massey, finished with a time of 4:25:99. 

The meet was in Eugene, Oregon at the University of Oregon from April 1-2. 

Head coach Kevin Adkisson said he is happy with where they finished in the last meet. 

“We’re always happy we can finish top couple teams,” Adkisson said. 

Adkisson, while happy with how his runners are finishing, believes there is a higher gear they can hit. 

“We actually have not had our best team running yet … We certainly have the capacity to be very competitive and run a fast time,” Adkisson said.  “We just have a few who have not been healthy. So the gals who have been running it recently, I’ve been very impressed with them … They’re doing a great job.”

One of the things that Adkisson said he takes the most pride in regarding this season is the culture the whole team has collectively built, specifically, the mentorship he sees from the upperclassmen and the lowerclassmen. 

“We really appreciate that and encourage that … for upperclassmen to take people under their wing,” Adkisson said. “The upperclassmen really do a nice job with that, serving as a role model by how they act, more of just showing by their actions how you do this at the collegiate level.”

Adkisson gave examples on how exactly the upperclassmen display their work ethic to the younger players.

“After practice what do you do, you stretch, you do those things to finish practice appropriately,” Adkisson said. “Then you go do your studies and find the time to get those done first so you can still have relaxation and social time … a well rounded lifestyle. It’s healthy but it’s also balanced … We’ve got a lot of really good role-model leaders among our upperclassmen.”

Adkisson said he is also impressed with how his runners have been able to adjust to collegiate running and what it entails to be a student athlete. 

 “Moving to that collegiate side … it’s a new step,” Adkisson said.  “Primarily that level of focus and commitment … and being able to balance the load of classwork … and the load of our training.”