Program History Once Again as SOV Girls Take Third Place Team Trophy
Photo by Keith Stewart
Sullivan-Okaw Valley’s girls’ track team hoists up their third place team trophy at
Eastern Illinois University’s O’Brien Stadium Saturday afternoon after placing in six events, including first in the 400m and 4x200 relay.
4x2, 400m championships lead banner day for SOV
by Keith Stewart
keith@newsprogress.com
For Sullivan-Okaw Valley’s girls’ track team, Saturday’s third place team trophy at the state track meet has its roots in a ticket stub.
“On the back of our shirts, it says get on the bus,” explained head coach Kali Taylor. “I had read a book over the winter called the ‘Energy Bus’, and it was all about positive energy and changing mindsets. So at the beginning of the season I gave them tickets and invited them on the bus. Then we put our goals up, and I told them from the get go that our goal was to walk away from every meet in the top three, and there were a couple times we didn’t. But now we’re walking away with a third place trophy.”
The group first got started on Thursday, sending five girls in seven events, tied with three other teams with the most qualifiers. All but one would then qualify for Saturday’s finals, setting up the historic team finish.