May 23, 2019 3 min read

It was all over but the crying.

After last year’s 1,600-meter girls relay in the WPIAL Class AA Track & Field Championships, Fort Cherry track coach Ben Maxin and the Rangers thought it would be happy tears.

Running an unofficial four-minute, five-second race, which set a school record and won them second place, ended in tears of heartbreak, no silver medal and being shut out of the 2018 PIAA Championships.

Fort Cherry was disqualified after one its runners moved into the first lane too early.

“We weren’t aware until the race was over when we were celebrating our silver medal,” Maxin said. “The medal wasn’t really the big deal. We just thought we could do some damage at states.”

What did the Rangers do instead?

They stayed at Shippensburg University – some of those same members qualified in other events – and watched teams they beat in the district championships earn medals in the 1,600 relay.

“Our kids stayed and watched,” Maxin remembers. “They run every 4×400 relay angry, thinking about last year and what could have been. We kind of got screwed over last year with a chance to medal at states. It’s a vengeance tour.”

That tour will make its last stop in Shippensburg at this year’s state championships after another school record and, this time, no disqualification. Fort Cherry won the 1,600 relay at last Thursday’s WPIAL championships in 4:03.21, nearly five seconds faster than the second-place team.

Comprised of McKenzie Faure, Alex Guerra, Jadyn Hartner and Mara Whalen, the Rangers will try to win the school’s first state medal in a relay. Fort Cherry will have that same chance in the 3,200-meter relay, which it also won gold in last week at Slippery Rock University.

“We had a little competition early in the race but pulled away,” Maxin said of the 1,600 relay. “It felt great. The kids were relieved. We joked about preparing for anything to go wrong. It was just about staying focused. I knew what our kids were capable of. We needed to be aggressive and not hold back at all. They got what they deserved.”

The overwhelming favorite to win the 1,600 relay in Class AA is Neumann Goretti. The Saints, who nearly finished second at indoor nationals, has the state’s fastest time of 3:47.08.

Fort Cherry has the second-fastest time but has strong competition behind it. Lewisburg, the District 4 champion, has a time of 4:03.83. District 2 champion Holy Redeemer won its district in 4:04.15. Central Cambria and Saint Basil Academy also have competitive times.

“We are pushing them to get under four minutes,” Maxin said. “I would have never fathomed a girls relay team at Fort Cherry to get under four minutes. We never had a relay team medal or even get to Day 2 at states. It would mean the world and they would do it all with a chip on their shoulders.”