Adrenaline coursed through sophomore Taylor Houck as she pushed down the track to her teammate, baton in hand. Houck stretched out her arm, knowing that the two weeks of preparation in practice led up to this moment -— to the handoff.

Running together for only the second time of the season, the women’s 4 x 100 relay team beat their previous record by .09 seconds while racng against the top two teams in the state. This was the team’s third time setting the school record.

“The thing that stands out in practice about these girls is their dedication,” Coach Randy Lytle said. “They strive for perfection.”

The team is composed of sophomores Houck and Rylee Dean and seniors Hunter Denney and Melissa White. The addition of Denney to the team this year allowed the women to surpass their previous school record. Denny previously competed in soccer.

“Before we got ready to compete, it was really scary because I felt like I was going to mess it up for them. Handoffs are a huge challenge,” Denney said.

All four of the women compete in 10 other events separately, while still finding a way to be successful as a relay team.

“We each work extremely hard in our individual events,” Houck said, “but we always find the time to stay after and work on handoffs.”

Ranked second in the region, the team is expecting to go to state.  They will run in the regional meet on May 10.

“We are definitely capable of breaking the record and hopefully going to state,” Dean said.

After the first three meets of the season, the women were feeling good about their progress.

“Being a senior makes me really sad because I have only one season to try to break the record again,” Denney said. “I have really enjoyed this season so far, and it makes me wish that this wasn’t my first and last time on the team.”

If the women’s relay team places in the top four at the regional meet, they will compete in the 3A state meet on May 16.

“After being on the 4×1 team for the past 4 years, it’s amazing to see how much we have grown individually as well as a team,” White said.

By Isabella Perron