McMartin Fights Back to Finish Line at State Cross Country Meet
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A year of patience and focus for a Pella High Senior turned what was a devastating end to 2018 to a strong finish to her Pella athletics career in our No. 2 moment in the Top 10 countdown of best moments from the Dutch in 2019-20.
After injury halted what was a likely All-State performance in 2018, Caroline McMartin was the 23rd runner in the 129-girl Class 3A field to cross the finish line at the 2019 State Cross Country meet Saturday, November 2nd leading Pella to an 8th place team score as well.
McMartin says there were times throughout the day when the heartbreak from the previous season crept up, but ultimately, she was able to make her final day as a high school cross country athlete a special one.
“When I was walking the course earlier, [last year] all kind of came back,” she said. “But during the race I didn’t really think about it a lot and I just tried to focus on the girls ahead of me and pick off as many as I could, especially on that last down hill, and honestly, the finish line is a lot longer than it looks but I just tried to focus on finishing and breathing and using my arms and just the things I could control.”
Caroline ended her Pella career as the fastest distance runner in program history in both cross country and track. McMartin owns the fastest 5K in Pella girls cross country history at 19:13.8 and the fastest 3000 meters on the track at 10:39.62, as well as the anchor leg of the fastest 4×800 relay. McMartin is a four-time state cross country qualifier–including All-State honors in 2017.
She is a multiple time qualifier for the state track and field meet as well — 2019 included a 3rd place 3000-meter run and 9th place 800 meter run, as well as appearances in the 3rd 4×400 relay and distance medley relay. McMartin competed on the 5th place 4×800 Relay, 6th place Distance Medley Relay, and in the 800 meter race, as well as the second leg of the 4×400 relay in the preliminaries on a team that won the Class 3A state championship on the track in 2018.
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Interview with McMartin from April 2020: