Trudging through the halls with water bottle in hand, freshman Deja Morehead continues to fill it up at each water fountain that she passes. Drinking as much as she can, Morehead prepares her body, as well as her mind, for the prestigious track meet her relay team will compete in the weekend of March 29-30: Texas Relays at UT Austin.
From March 29 through March 30, track athletes who run the top 15 times in the state compete against each other at Texas Relays in UT Austin. Legacy girls are sending their top relay team to compete in the 4X400 and the 4X200 relays. Along with that, one of the relay participants, Senior Victoria Johnson, will compete in the long jump and 100 meter hurdles.
“It feels really good to be going,” Morehead said. “It shows that hard work pays off.”
As an up and coming athlete, Morehead runs with junior Bree Stone, junior Kaylei Oliver, and senior Victoria Johnson. Being the freshman, Morehead feels an immense amount of pressure to run fast and do well in order to not be the weakest link. Morehead’s sights at Texas Relays are to help her team get in the top eight in both their relays and PR, or get a “personal record”, in the 4X400 meter race.
“It’s cool because you’re the only freshman, so people think ‘Oh, she must be pretty good’,” Morehead said.
For Oliver, this will be her second time making it to Texas Relays. Last year Oliver remembers placing seventh in the 4X400 relay and hopes to break that placement with a better one. As for the 4X200, Oliver hopes to place better than twelfth and run a low 25 seconds in her 200 meter sprint.
“You have to get accepted to the meet,” Oliver said. “So that makes you wanna work harder each year to be able to go.”
Before the race, both Morehead and Oliver predict that they’ll stretch and think about how the race will unfold. Morehead assumes her excitement will make her ready to race as soon as she gets to UT’s track, so she will spend most of the time calming herself down.
“Mentally I’m just trying to think about the race,” Morehead said. “I just imagine myself running it.”
