MAPLETON — Mapleton High School sophomore Haylee Rogers is the third generation in her family to qualify for the state track meet.
Haylee’s father, Chad, and grandmother, Julie, both also represented Mapleton at the state meet during their high school careers.
The Mapleton 4×100 team of senior Sydney Abbruzzese, freshman Jillian Carrick, junior Grace Grundy and Rogers finished fourth at Massillon Perry last weekend to qualify for state.
The top four teams punched tickets to Columbus this weekend at the Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium at The Ohio State University. The state meet begins on Friday.
Julie Rogers, who qualified for state more than four decades ago (1978), loves to watch the relay events.
“You definitely have to work together. Working on your exchanges is the biggest thing, as in getting your timing right and when to start taking off,” she said. “It’s a beautiful race to watch.”
Exchanges, or hand-offs, in the 4×100 take place in designated zones where the batons must be passed from one teammate to the other. Athletes rehearse rapidly accelerating to the point where there’s barely a delay in run time. The key to a winning the event is perfecting these hand-offs.
Haylee Rogers echoed her grandmother on importance of good baton exchanges during the race.
“There are a lot of nerves and excitement,” the younger Rogers said. “All the times are so close … you have to have really good hand offs.
“We practice hand-offs every day. We’ll have to run as fast as we can and make sure we get a good warm-up,” she said.
Mapleton’s 4×100 team finished in 51.40 in the district finals and improved to 50.57 in the regional event.
Julie Rogers, recalling her own experiences, believes her granddaughter’s team has a chance to do well in Columbus.
“It takes hard work and dedication,” Julie Rogers said. “You can do anything you put your mind to. If there is something that you want, you work hard for it. You give it your all.”
Chad Rogers recalled his own state meet experiences and compared it to his daughter’s team.
“It took teamwork to get there, that’s for sure,” Chad said. “It was definitely intense.”
