On February 28th, 2017, the Middletown South Girls 4×800 team travelled to The Armory Track and Field Center in New York City to compete in the 83rd annual Eastern States Championships. Throughout the entirety of the winter season, the 4×800 squad was constantly evolving. Having developed a plethora of middle distance runners during the winter campaign, Coach Bill Clifton always seems to have options when it came to the 4×800 relay. At the Eastern States Championships, however, Coach Clifton was eager to assemble a group that was most likely to achieve success at the highly competitive competition.
Well, it seems as though Coach Clifton discovered a winning formula in relay consisting of seniors Jen Tregilles and Delia Tota, alongside juniors Maddie Brand and Rachael Hutson. The four girls combined to run a season best time of 9:33.03 at The Armory, good for second place out of 22 of the best 4×800 teams in the metropolitan area. For a majority of the season, Tota, Brand, and Hutson, who are all distance runners, had been mainstays in the relay team, but the trifecta required a fourth contributor in order to be competitive. Sprinter Jen Tregilles has always been a strong 400 meter runner, but has recently decided to attempt the 800. Not surprisingly, Jen has discovered that her talent on the track ranges between a variety of races, including the 800, offering Coach Clifton even more flexibility when it comes to manufacturing a successful relay team.
Now that the winter season has concluded on a high note, the girls are looking to transfer momentum generated from a dominant winter to the spring season. Although it is currently unknown who will be representing the renowned girls 4×800 team this upcoming spring as things are constantly altering, one thing is for certain: this is one talented squad.