Fallsnewspress.com - Mercer's win highlights Woodridge girls at states

RPC Photo / Michael K. Dakota Woodridge senior Erin Mercer, center, runs through the pack in the 3,200-meter run June 6 at the Division II state track meet in Columbus. Mercer would finish fourth in the 3,200 and also won the 1,600-meter run.

by Michael Leonard

Sports Editor

Woodridge coach Jeff Howard had every right to be happy after his team's performance at the Division II state track and field meet June 5 and 6.

Not only did all four of the Bulldogs' girls who reached Columbus earn All-Ohio honors, but one captured the first individual title of Howard's tenure as coach.

Senior Erin Mercer capped her running career at Woodridge by winning the gold medal in the 1,600-meter run. Mercer also took third in the 3,200-meter run and helped the Bulldogs take eighth in the 1,600-meter relay.

Woodridge ended up with 18 team points, tying the Bulldogs with Lake Catholic for 10th place in the Division II girls' team race. Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy and Columbus Bishop Hartley tied for the team title with 55 points.

The meet took place at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium.

Mercer was on a mission in the 1,600 as she had finished fifth as a freshman, third as a sophomore and eighth as a junior in the same race.

"I thought I had a shot [at winning state]," Mercer said. "It was a rough year last year, but I trained hard all summer and wanted to make up for last year."

Mercer took the lead in the race around the 600-meter mark and held it until the final lap. That's when CVCA's Caroline Case -- a good friend of Mercer's -- stepped up her challenge.

"I cheated a little and looked at the video screen," Mercer said. "I wanted to see how close she was. I knew she was a fighter and I guess we had to see who wanted it more."

Case briefly took the lead, but the two seniors were neck-and-neck in the home stretch.

Mercer beat Case to the line by about a half-second. Her time of 5:00.71 broke her own school record.

"It was all about who had the most heart," Mercer said. "I wanted it and I didn't want to regret anything after today. I just left it all out on the last lap."

"She took a chance," Howard said. "We were hoping she could move a little in the middle against the girls who were chasing her and take some sap out of their legs. She ran just a beautifully tactical race and beat some good runners."

"It was kind of neat because she qualified all four years in the mile, just like her mother did [at Woodridge]," Howard said.

Mercer was among the favorites in the 3,200 as well, but spent most of that race chasing another CVCA star in Katie Gillespie. Gillespie faded to third, but finished just in front of Mercer, who took fourth in a time of 11:17.53.

"That's the second best time in school history," Howard said. "She's a great kid. She's got herself a nice scholarship to North Carolina State and we know she'll do well. Losing Joe [White] and Erin is going to be big for the program."

Mercer also helped the Bulldogs' 1,600 relay reach the finals. In the preliminaries, Howard said he chose to run Mercer because she did not have any other races June 5.

Senior Sarah Martter, freshman Devin Burns, Mercer and sophomore Maria Moore ran third in their heat with a time of 4:01.91 to advance to the final.

"We said If there was any temperature at all [June 6], we were going to switch Erin out because she would have to run the relay right after the 3,200," Howard said. "Once we were in the finals, we made the decision to switch."

Sophomore Miranda Stockton moved into the third leg for Mercer and ran her personal best, according to Howard. Despite this, Woodridge had to settle for eighth place in a time of 4:06.16.

Moore was able to score an individual All-Ohio finish as well, as she was part of the wildest finish of the meet in the 800-meter run.

Moore came on fast in the final meters and was able to sneak into seventh place in a time of 2:18.42.

Moore had to survive a huge pileup at the finish line as seven runners finished within .63 seconds of each other. The race needed a photo finish to sort it out, but confirmed Moore's status as an All-Ohioan.

"When she hit the turn, she was about 12th, but I knew she was coming," Howard said. "She's about a second and a half off of Erin's school record and she's only run the 800 about five times."

E-mail: mleonard@recordpub.com

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