After the Hereford girls 3,200-meter relay team finished second in the Class 3A state championship meet the past three years, coach Brad Duvall decided to go for broke this year.
"This year I'm putting the four best in it and I think we've got a good shot to win it," said Duvall, one day before the meet, which was held Monday at the Prince Georges County Sports and Learning Complex in Landover.
The coach proved prophetic when his quartet of Hannah Ace, Alicia Kozlowski, Sarah Coffey and Catie Denz delivered around noon on President's Day with the 3,200 relay state title.
They clocked 9:45.15 and won the school's first state championship in that event since 2011.
"Every year, I've kind of held a kid out, which is fine, but we are always one kid away from winning," Duvall said.
This year, he left it up to his top distance runner, Coffey, to make the decision. "She would be seeded second in the state in the 3200, but she said 'I'd rather run the 4 X 800 and win that than run the 3,200 individually,'" Duvall said.
Her teammates were also on board.
"All four of them said 'We want to go for the 4X 800 championship,' so I figured if that's what they want to do then we are going to do it," Duvall said.
The quartet helped the Bulls finish fifth in the state meet with 32.50 points. They trailed Oakdale (73), Liberty (45), Century (43) and Boonsboro (33).
Also scoring for Hereford at the state meet was the 1,600 meter relay team (3rd, 4:16.13) of senior Traci Rambert, freshmen Julia Zemanek and Kyli Nause and senior Denz.
Individually, on track, Coffey was sixth in the 1,600, setting a personal record of 5:17.07. Kozlowski was eighth in the same event.
Hannah Boliek set a school record while placing second (11-feet, 6 inches) in pole vault. Alex Butts was fifth in pole vault (9-0).
Although Duvall didn't expect the team to win a state title he was proud of his young squad's effort this season. That included the school's ninth straight Baltimore County championship and a regional championship.
"Most of what we have is underclassmen," Duvall said. "We have a couple of seniors that contribute, but I have a lot of juniors that are really good and a lot of freshmen that are really good."
The two most talented seniors are Denz and Boliek.
Catie is undoubtedly the unsung hero. She is a kid that doesn't get as much credit as she deserves because she is in events that were headlined by kids from Milford Mill and Western Tech," said Duvall, noting, "last year at counties she finished third out of nowhere, which is pretty much what put us over the top over Milford, and this year she finished fourth when she was seeded eighth. She is a big-time performer."
At regionals, she ran 1:25.27 and placed second for the Bulls, who won the meet convincingly over second-place Oakland Mills (77) with 146 points.
"She is one of the toughest and nicest kids I've ever coached and she is under-appreciated when it comes to All-County voting," Duvall said. "She is one of the best 400 runners in the county, but people don't recognize her because of the talent we have in the 400, 300 and 500 in the county."
Duvall didn't get to coach Denz during her freshman and sophomore years because she played softball, but she ran outdoors last season and plans to again this spring.
Boliek also holds the Hereford school record in the pole vault outdoors (11-feet, 1 inch). At the Class 2A Central Region championships, she won the pole vault with a jump of 10-feet.
Butz (9-feet) and Mia Navarro (7-6) were second and third.
In high jump, junior Emily Behan won the regional title with fewer misses at 4-9 and Butz was second, clearing the same height. Anna Watt was fourth (4-5).
The only other regional championship came from the 3,200 relay team of senior Sophie Seaman, freshman Hannah Weeren and sophomores Hannah Ace and Dana Meehling.
Junior Coffey was second in the 1,600 (5:20.46).
Classmates Kozlowski (3rd, 5:30.52) and Emily Causey (5th, 5:52.32) also scored in the 1,600.
In the 3,200, Ace was third and freshmen Weeren and Megan Lime were fifth and sixth.
In the 800 at regionals, Kozlowski was second (2:30.91) and Coffey (2:31.18) took third.
Junior Emily Willard placed in the 55 hurdles (5th, 10:29) and junior Cassidy Nozeback (5th, 27-feet, 4-5 inches) and freshman Heath Collins (6th, 27-3) scored in shot put.
The 1,600 relay quartet of Rambert, Zemanek, Nause and Denz was second (4:29.18) and the same group was second in the 800 relay.
Hereford's boys were headlined by the performance of Mike Nash, who won a state title in shot put with a throw of 48-feet, 3.5 inches.
Zach Lang was eighth in the 1,600 (4:54.41).