CHARLESTON – Jersey's girls 4x400 relay team had an outstanding season this year.
The team of Anne Snyders, Sydney Merle, Alexis Liles and Kiara Chapman reset the school record for the event several times during the season, doing so again in Friday's IHSA Class 2A state track meet at Eastern Illinois' O'Brien Field in their heat of the event, covering the distance in 4:06.82, finishing third In their heat behind Aurora Rosary and Springfield Southeast, who both went on to advance to Saturday's final.
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“I felt like we had a smooth race and we kept on going to get to the front of it,” Snyders said in a team interview immediately after the end of the Panthers' heat in the event. “That was our main goal. I think with us coming in so close to second place that we have a chance (to get to the final).”
“It was intense,” Chapman said, “but I'm glad we got to experience it; it's a crazy competition and I'm proud of how we did.”
“We were all pretty nervous before (Jersey's heat), but I think it paid off in the race,” Liles said.
“We had a lot of competition,” Merle said. “We were very nervous, but we pushed ourselves and the competition sure helped. We're happy with how it went.”
Of the four, Snyders and Chapman are seniors, Merle is a junior and Liles is a sophomore.
