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A team on a mission Mail Tribune / Jim Craven The St. Mary's 4x400-meter relay team, from left to right, Leah Sawyer, Katie MacDiarmid, Trina Stout, Brittany Lawson and Liz Treblehorn, has the top time in the state among Class 2A schools. The St. Mary's High girls 4x400-meter relay team has its sight set on breaking the Class 2A state record Not many people noticed the St. Mary's High girls when they ran the 4x400-meter relay at the Grants Pass Rotary Invitational Track and Field Meet last Saturday. The Crusaders settled for fourth place in the event, behind Class 4A schools South Medford and Grants Pass and Class 3A power Henley. It's easy to get overlooked in such a scenario, but the Crusaders nonetheless put their own stamp on the race when they clocked 4 minutes, 8.24 seconds to establish a school record and the top time in the state among Class 2A schools. Perhaps even more impressive, their time came within one second of the Class 2A state record of 4:07.5, set by Kennedy High of Mt. Angel in 1980. The Crusaders hope to break the state record - if not today during the District 6 meet at Oregon Tech in Klamath Falls, then next Saturday at the Class 2A state meet at Western Oregon University in Monmouth. "There's no doubt in my mind that we can do it," St. Mary's coach Joe Volk says. "The ultimate accomplishment would be for us to win the relay at the state meet, set the all-time record and in the process win the state championship as a team." St. Mary's is capable of just such a trifecta, Volk says, because each girl on the relay figures to score points in other events. The foursome that set the school record consists of senior Trina Stout, junior Katie MacDiarmid, sophomore Brittany Lawson and freshman Liz Trebelhorn. Senior Leah Sawyer, the school's record-holder in the 1,500 and 3,000, will replace MacDiarmid at today's district meet because MacDiarmid will be running the 300 hurdles, which is contested only a few minutes prior to the relay. Not that Sawyer is any slouch. She was on the relay when it clocked an earlier school-record time of 4:13.48 at the Yreka Invitational on April 27, and her times have been comparable to MacDiarmid's. What's interesting about this group is that the two fastest members of the relay - Stout and Trebelhorn - are relatively new to the 400-meter distance that each runner completes during the event. Stout concentrated on the 100, 200 and 4x100 relay during her first three years at St. Mary's, while Trebelhorn spent her springs playing soccer. Stout ran an opening split of 61.4 seconds during the team's record time last Saturday, and owns the school record in the open 400 at 60.4. "She's a tall, slender girl with a nice, long stride, but she still doesn't truly know how to run the 400," St. Mary's sprint coach Charlie Lepari says of Stout. "It takes a while to realize you can go out hard and still finish strong. She did a better job of that Saturday, but she knows she can take it out even harder. Once she does, she's going to break 60 seconds." Trebelhorn is also a diamond in the rough. She was put on the anchor leg for only the second time last Saturday and responded with a personal-record 59.4-second split. Trebelhorn is also a rising star in the 800. She ran the two-lap event in 2:42 the first time she tried it two weeks ago, then blazed to a school-record 2:25.4 clocking last Friday at a meet in Harrisburg. "It's pretty incredible what she's done," says Lepari of Trebelhorn. "Until recently she was only practicing with us two or three days a week because of soccer. "I'm not sure she has any idea how good she can be. Her form has already improved a ton, but she's still an untapped runner." Lawson, meanwhile, probably doesn't possess the natural speed of Stout or Trebelhorn, but her strong work ethic and desire to win has enabled her to post some good splits, including a lifetime best of 61.8 at the Grants Pass meet. Lawson was a member of the Crusader volleyball squad that took third at the Class 2A state tournament last fall. Assuming the 4x400 relay advances to the state meet - it needs to finish first or second at today's district event - Lepari won't decide until next week whether MacDiarmid or Sawyer will fill the fourth runner's role. "They're pretty equal - it's going to depend on who's the freshest," Lepari says. As a group, the Crusaders aim to become the fastest. Reach reporter Don Hunt at 776-4469, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.