Freshmen Ada Ferrell, juniors Lindsay Pettus and Lydia Clubb and senior Elizabeth Riggs placed second overall at the Missouri track and field state championship this past weekend in the 4x400 relay race. 

“It was the perfect way to end my high school season,” Riggs said. “We all ran personal records for that final race. It was just overwhelming and very exciting.” 

These four girls broke the school record the last three times they competed, two of which were at the state meet. On day one, the girls placed fifth with a time of 4:08.77 in the preliminary race. Twenty-four hours later, the team broke their record with a time of 4:06.17. 

“I don’t think they realized how good they were until we got to districts,” Wright City head coach Fred Ross said. “They just got faster and faster and faster.”

In just two and a half weeks, the team cut their time down by 11 seconds. Ross noted that the weather getting warmer and less rainy, and the competition getting better really contributed to their progression. 

Throughout the years, Pettus, Clubb and Riggs were a consistent team, typically having different alternates be the fourth person in the relay. However, this season Ferrell joined and it was soon realized that she was the missing piece. 

“Ada came in this year and she was able to be a strong fourth leg for us, which is something we hadn’t had the past two seasons,” Riggs said. “We had four athletes who were very close in time, we were all competitive and able to have the same team the whole year.” 

To prepare for state, Ross guessed that they ran the 4x400 relay two or three times a day for about three weeks. They keyed in on speed work, working on the curves and practicing handoffs. 

“They’re probably tired of running the 4x400,” Ross chuckled. 

Riggs added that while it is one of her favorite races because of the team aspect, she and the rest of the girls definitely got sick of running it. 

“You know it can be a pretty miserable race sometimes,” Riggs said. “But once we get out there and run it, we all get a lot of adrenaline and excitement.”

Ross also helped the girls prepare for state by taking them sightseeing and visiting the capitol the morning of the race. He wanted them to relax and take their mind off of the high-stakes race for a few hours, which worked in the end. 

Riggs noted that the team was good at giving each other pep talks and motivating one another. She also said everyone on the relay team is very competitive, so during practices it was always a race to see who could run their leg the fastest, which ultimately helped the girls push one another. 

Riggs also competed in the 300-meter hurdles, placing ninth in the preliminaries, which unfortunately did not allow her to move on. However, Ross said that this was the first time in his 27 years of coaching at Wright City that a girls relay team had medaled. 

“I’m just happy for the kids,” Ross said. “This is a lifetime story they will never forget.” 

Ross said that the best part was seeing the girls celebrate with their families and getting photos while they had the biggest smiles plastered on their faces.

“All those girls ran so hard and just did everything right,” Ross said. “We’ll miss Lizzie. She’s a senior and a three-time state medalist and that’s our leadership, but hopefully we get someone to plug in and those three will be leading that run again next year.”