CHARLESTON – Lorie Cashdollar brought a stellar career at Edwardsville High School to an end Saturday afternoon by bringing home hardware from the IHSA Class 3A Girls Track and Field Championship's state meet at Eastern Illinois' O'Brien Field.
Cashdollar finished seventh in the 800-meter run final – and set a school record in the process for the second day in a row.
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What had been a mark of 2:16.3 in the event set back in 1984 became a mark of 2:15.94 following Friday's qualifying race; Cashdollar then lowered it to 2:15.19 in finishing seventh in Saturday's final; the top nine runners in the event brought home medals from the event while scoring points for their teams; Evanston's Enyaeva Michelin won the event with a time of 2:08.44.
“First time I've taken hardware home and I made it on the podium,” Cashdollar said following her race. “It means so much; I'm so happy.”
Cashdollar brought the Edwardsville portion of her career to a successful end with the race; she said the end of her time as a Tiger was “bittersweet”.
“It's the end of the road for me here at Edwardsville,” Cashdollar said. “It's bittersweet, but I'm so excited for the future. I'll always be a Tiger – always and forever.”
Cashdollar had many thanks for those who helped her along the way at EHS, especially distance and assistant cross-country coach Dustin Davis. “Huge thanks to coach Davis for always being there for me,” Cashdollar said, “always being there to warm up with me, cool down with me, tell me my workout plans and my race plans – I couldn't have done it without him.”
After next week's graduation ceremony at EHS, Cashdollar and Abby Korak will be heading to the Great Southwest meet in Albuquerque, N.M. “I competed there last year,” Cashdollar said. “We're going to try to win the 4x800 (relay) there, so one more race for me this season, then take a break and start college training.”
That college Cashdollar will be attending is DePaul University in her hometown of Chicago.
