Lakeridge OR Senior Traveled Through The Winter And Learned What Big-Time Racing Feels Like, Picking Up Lessons That Helped Her Win Mile At Oregon Relays

By Lori Shontz for DyeStat

Becky Holbrook photo

EUGENE -- Lakeridge OR senior Chloe Huyler learned a lot by running against some collegiate competition during the indoor track season, but one thing stood out: how far out those athletes started their kick.

“It made me realize how much they go with 800 to go,” she said. “They really pick it up. So I learned to do that, as well.”

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And that’s the strategy she used Friday night at the Oregon Relays: tucking in for the first two laps of the mile, making her move with 600 to go and then stretching it out for the final 400. The result: a comfortable victory in 4:46.70, the fastest high school time in the United States so far this season.

She finished more than three seconds ahead of Adrianna Buitelaar of Mennonite Educational Institute, who took second in 4:50.34. Third place went to Addy Ritzenhein of Niwot CO in 4:51.08.

Huyler’s overall goals for the season are to improve her race tactics and “just be a race winner,” which is something she enjoyed during her last high school cross country season.

“I won a lot,” Huyler said. “And so, it just becomes addicting.”

By “won a lot,” Huyler meant that she won nearly every race she entered, including the Oregon Class 6A championship and the NXR Northwest. She finished 20th at NXN.

She traveled a lot during the indoor season, running in some collegiate competitions “kinda just for fun.” But that wasn’t the only reason; a Notre Dame recruit, she wanted to get a sense for what competition at the next level would look like.

She ran a 4:46.83 mile at the UW Preview in January, a 4:44.70 at the Husky Classic in February and a 4:40.55 for fourth place at New Balance Nationals Indoor in March. And in the 2-mile, she ran 10:03.32 in January at the CIRCUIT in Chicago and 10:08.17 for third place at New Balance Nationals Indoor.

She watched film of her races, observing where she needed to improve her tactical prowess, and she talked with her dad about it.

“As much as I get irritated with him when he talks about strategy,” she said, “I think at the end of the day he’s my biggest supporter, and I seriously would not be here without him.”

Her goals for the rest of her senior year: breaking 10 minutes for the 2-mile and 4:40 for the mile, which she believes she can do “with the right conditions and the right field.”

And beyond that? “I just want to win as many races as I can,” she said.