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NewsTribune Girls Track & Field Athlete of the Year: Mendota’s Mariyah Elam · Illinois Valley - Shaw Local

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  Speaker 1: News Tribune Girls Track and Field Athlete of the Year
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  Speaker 1: Mendota's Maria Elam Written by Kevin Schlum. This article is
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  Speaker 1: being read by an automated voice brought to you by Everlett.
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  Speaker 1: When Mendota junior Maria Elam stood atop the podium in
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  Speaker 1: Charleston and had a state championship medal placed around her neck,
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  Speaker 1: her biggest emotion wasn't triumph, elation, or joy. It was relief.
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  Speaker 1: After injuring her ankle during basketball season, Elam battled throughout
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  Speaker 1: the track and field season with physical pain and mental
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  Speaker 1: issues that came with it. I was so relieved all
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  Speaker 1: my hard work paid off, Elam said. It was a
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  Speaker 1: struggle the whole season. I felt like I was going
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  Speaker 1: to get my offered scholarships revoked and things like that.
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  Speaker 1: I was going through it. I was so scared. Despite
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  Speaker 1: the injury and ensuing struggles, Elam claimed the class to
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  Speaker 1: a high jumpy state championship. She also won it as
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  Speaker 1: a freshman and placed second as a sophomore. This spring,
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  Speaker 1: Elam also placed second in the triple jump and ran
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  Speaker 1: on the Trojan's four x two hundred meter relay that
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  Speaker 1: finished fourteenth at State instet, a school record. Elim recorded
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  Speaker 1: the area's best high jump one point six eight meters
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  Speaker 1: and triples jump jump eleven point sixty five, and also
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  Speaker 1: ranked second in the area in the one hundred hurdles
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  Speaker 1: fifteen point eight two seconds and three hundred hurdles forty
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  Speaker 1: six point eight seven and ran on the area's top
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  Speaker 1: four x two hundred one forty five point five to
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  Speaker 1: three and second fastest four x one hundred forty nine
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  Speaker 1: point eighty six. For all she accomplished this season, Elim
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  Speaker 1: is the twenty twenty six News Tribune Girls Track and
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  Speaker 1: Field Athlete of the Year. Elim also won the award
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  Speaker 1: as a freshman in twenty twenty four. Her sophomore year,
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  Speaker 1: a girl beat her at State eight and I don't
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  Speaker 1: think she was expecting it, So this whole season she
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  Speaker 1: had a new mentality of no one's going to beat me.
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  Speaker 1: Mendota coach Joe Hughes said, when she needed to, she
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  Speaker 1: put on on quite a performance. It was everything we
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  Speaker 1: could have asked for and more in every single meat
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  Speaker 1: she performed in. Elam's season got off to a rocky
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  Speaker 1: start after suffering an ankle injury late in the basketball season,
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  Speaker 1: Elam did not high jump in Mendota's first two meets,
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  Speaker 1: and after jumping April ninth and placing third, she skipped
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  Speaker 1: jumping in the next four meets, including Mendoda's and Don
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  Speaker 1: Gooden Invite, before getting back into regularly competing in high jump.
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  Speaker 1: Elim did not compete in the triple jump until Mendota's
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  Speaker 1: sixth meet. I wasn't really doing any jumping, Elam sayds
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  Speaker 1: I was just doing races so I could let my
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  Speaker 1: leg heal a little bit more. Instead of practicing with
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  Speaker 1: everybody else, I'd be doing stretches and then icing it
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  Speaker 1: for fifteen minutes. When Elam did start jumping again, she
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  Speaker 1: said the best jump I could do was four to eleven.
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  Speaker 1: She cleared one point five to seven meters fivesh one
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  Speaker 1: dot seven five in her first competition. Even when she
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  Speaker 1: started competing again, she still was dealing with the effects
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  Speaker 1: the injury. Every time I jumped, my ankle would start
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  Speaker 1: getting an aching pain because I was trying to power
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  Speaker 1: off it to do my very best height, Elim said,
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  Speaker 1: it would be so aching I had to scratch out
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  Speaker 1: of races. Then I had to redo the process of
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  Speaker 1: icing it and letting it rest because it got swollen again.
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  Speaker 1: Elim ended up adjusting her approach to accommodate the injury.
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  Speaker 1: I had to get new steps, Elam said. I usually
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  Speaker 1: jump farther away from the bar with my ankle. We
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  Speaker 1: had to change my steps so I can jump a
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  Speaker 1: little closer to the bar and use more upward power
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  Speaker 1: instead of upward and outward power. By state, Elam said,
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  Speaker 1: although there was still some pain, it was more tolerable.
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  Speaker 1: My ankle was more stable by state, but it was
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  Speaker 1: still sore. Elam said there was a sharp pain each release,
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  Speaker 1: but not as bad as the beginning of the season.
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  Speaker 1: It was something I could endure. At State, she cleared
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  Speaker 1: one point six four meters five to four point five,
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  Speaker 1: which matched her state winning jump as a freshman and
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  Speaker 1: was her second best jump of the season. I stayed calm,
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  Speaker 1: Elim said about the keys to her success. I didn't
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  Speaker 1: get in my head too much. I stayed warmed up.
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  Speaker 1: I made sure I had a calm body in breathing
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  Speaker 1: so I could focus on the task at hand. After
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  Speaker 1: missing finals in the triple jump as a freshman and
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  Speaker 1: finishing one spot off the podium last season, Elim leaped
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  Speaker 1: all the way up to second. This spring, she leapt
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  Speaker 1: a personal record and school record eleven point sixty five
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  Speaker 1: on her first jump at State. We've been working a
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  Speaker 1: lot with each phase, Hugh said. Boys coach Brock Sondrath
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  Speaker 1: was phenomenal in working with her. He has so much knowledge.
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  Speaker 1: She was just so committed to putting herself in the
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  Speaker 1: best scenario to win, so she listened to every piece
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  Speaker 1: of advice a coach told her. She put it all
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  Speaker 1: together when she needed to, and all three phases were
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  Speaker 1: excellent at State. Elim has already received recruiting interest from
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  Speaker 1: major Division I programs, including the University of Miami, and
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  Speaker 1: she hopes to get interest from Texas. Elim said she's
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  Speaker 1: going to be working way harder to surpass what I'm
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  Speaker 1: doing now in order to achieve her college dreams and
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  Speaker 1: have a successful senior season, which she hopes includes a
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  Speaker 1: repeat as high jump champion. I can be way more
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  Speaker 1: confident going into it, Elim said, I'm just going to
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  Speaker 1: make it a fun year and a positive and competitive year.