HIGH SCHOOL JOURNALISM: Blue oval memories

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By Emily Moon, MFL MarMac senior

DES MOINES - After six years of school competition, it all came down to this day.

I had practiced hard all summer, fal and spring for this very day. It was hard to believe that all my years of hard work and a dream to get to state were really happening.

Stepping out on that blue oval  at Drake Stadium was an exhilarating sensation. The security was tight all around that track. There was only one way in,and one way out to the track.

Only competing athletes were allowed on the field, therefore, the first step was to get my placement numbers. I showed the men at the gate my numbers and I was in. This was the first time I had ever set foot on this blue oval.

There were so many people in middle of the field, and in the crowd, for it only being 9 in the morning.

I felt so free as I set my bag in the middle of the green turf. I went back onto the track to start warming up. I walked back and forth in the second lane, because I never walk in the first lane. After about half an hour of walking back and forth, the time had come to put my spikes on and check myself in.

I was number 16 in a field of 24 in the Class 3A 3,000-meter run. We all had to stand in a line in our numerical order. In a matter of moments, we were asked to step out onto the track.

In a line with all the other girls - in the state meet - was like something from a fairytale.

This had always been a goal of mine - to make it to state. I knew once we stepped to the starting line, that whatever happened, would happen, and the only thing that mattered was that I made it to state.

The gunman stepped onto his ladder, he called us to the line, shot the gun - and we were off.

(Emily Moon finished 18th in 11:35.90)