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On April 7, four Menlo-Atherton High School girls on the track and field team competed in the highly selective Arcadia Invitational race in Southern California. The Bears put M-A in the history books as they broke the national record for the 4×1600 relay and school records for the 800-meter race.
Senior Chloe Pilette and juniors Tatum Olesen, Cleo Rehkopf, and Annie Pflaum competed in the 4×1600. It came as a surprise, but the Bears were the top seed in the race, and they certainly lived up to their position. Pilette ran the first leg of the relay and secured a strong third-place position for the Bears despite getting boxed in at the start of the race.
Pilette handed the baton to Pflaum, who took a crucial lead for M-A. Not only did Pflaum catch up to her competitors, but she gapped the second-place team by about 100 meters.
“Running under the lights was just a totally different type of vibe than most meets, which was really cool. I’m just excited to see how much faster we can go next year,” Pflaum said.
Rehkopf took care of her leg with ease, comfortably maintaining the 100-meter gap between M-A and second-place, and handed off the baton to the Bears’ anchor, Olesen. As Olesen grabbed the baton, the only thing on her mind was breaking the national record for the 4×1600. Speeding up at the very end of her leg, Olesen broke the national record for the year.
On Saturday morning, April 8, Olesen was back on the track, competing in the 800, which consists of two laps around the track. She ran her laps in 2:11.14, breaking M-A’s all-time record by about 0.3 seconds, etching her name in the Bears’ history books.
“Breaking the school record had been a goal of mine for a while and I think the relay the night before made us all more prepared for our individual events,” Olesen said.
“It was such a surreal feeling; we had no idea what to expect going in but we always had each other’s back, which took the pressure off a little bit and made the win even more rewarding,” Pilette said.
The girls’ performance put M-A on the map nationally for track and field.
This story originally appeared in the M-A Chronicle: www.machronicle.com.
This story originally appeared in the M-A Chronicle: www.machronicle.com.
This story originally appeared in the M-A Chronicle: www.machronicle.com.
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