Megan Zacher
has kissed the state soccer championship trophy for Xavier Prep. Now she would
like nothing better than to hang a first-place medal around her neck at this
week’s Division I state track meet.
Zacher, a
sophomore, has three chances to accomplish that – in the 800-meter run, the
4x800 relay and the 4x400 relay.
The meet
will run Wednesday (May 2) and Saturday (May 5). Wednesday’s schedule will
consist mainly of preliminary events, but there will be a few final races
thrown in, such as the 4x800.
Zacher will
be running in the 4x800 for the first time this season after helping the Gators
finish second in the event a year ago. She is expected to be the leadoff leg,
followed by freshman Sammy Braun, junior Karina Hawkins and senior Kinsey Ehmann,
Zacher’s friend and soccer teammate.
The
preliminaries for the 4x400 will be held Wednesday, with finals on Saturday.
Zacher likely will run second in that one, behind junior Jada Sims and ahead of
sophomore Sophie Brohard and Ehmann.
Xavier sophomore Megan Zacher has a passion for running and, as the shirt says, soccer. (Photo by Don Ketchum). |
In the 800
that will be run Saturday, Zacher is coming off one of her strongest races of
the year in the recent Northeast Valley Championships. Zacher will be
attempting to outperform favorite Morgan Foster of Chandler High. Ehmann and
Braun also should be in that race.
“I am
motivated to do better, do my best, each time out there,’’ said Zacher, who
finished 15th as a freshman. “I think I am showing more maturity.
“In the
relays, we have that passion, have that drive. We have good team chemistry and
when you go out there to run, you are doing it for your teammates.’’
Her success
in the 800 “is just doing what comes naturally. I think about strategy, but you
don’t want to think too much. Once you get out on the track, you have to be
ready. Sometimes I get some nervous energy before, but once the race starts, it
usually goes away.’’
Because her
mother was a runner in college, Zacher has inherited those traits.
She began
running competitively as a freshman, and played on Xavier’s JV soccer team. She
moved up to varsity soccer last winter, where she played left back.
Xavier head
track and field coach Dave Van Sickle also coaches the school’s cross-country
team, and says he has “lobbied’’ to get her to join.
Even if he
can’t win her over, he will be happy to have her in track.
“She’s got
that long stride and she is going to be really good,’’ he said.
Sprints
coach Ryan Regula said Zacher “is doing a great job. She is really a
competitor, really self-driven.’’
Zacher’s
workouts usually are for speed one day, endurance the next.
“You need
both,’’ she said.
To win a
state track event or two and as a team “would show that your hard work really
pays off. It would be amazing.’’
Others to watch – Mia Olsen, Karina Hawkins, Helen
Innes and Jamie Stelnik in the 1,600, Bisola Ojeniyi,Leila Grant, Johnnie
Mitchell and Ololade Adebayo on the 4x100 relay, Olsen, Stelnik and Innes in
the 3,200, Kendall Swanson in the javelin, Sims in the high jump, long jump,
100-meter hurdles and the 4x400 and Grant in the 300 intermediate hurdles.
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