SHIPPENSBURG, Pa. (EYT/D9) — Approaching the final turn of the Class 2A 400-meter run, Mylee Harmon was in fifth place.
It was go time.
Harmon, the Redbank Valley freshman who entered her first track and field season with modest goals, made her push.
Fourth place.
Then third.
When she moved into second, one thing cascaded through her mind.
“Oh my gosh,” Harmon thought. “I have this.”
Harmon shattered her own school record with a time of 57.15 seconds in the 400 at the PIAA Track and Field Championships on a sun-drenched Saturday afternoon. She edged Lily Saul of Montoursville, who she blew past just before the finish line as Saul stumbled and fell to become only the second girl in Redbank Valley history to win a state track and field title.
It was a frantic final 100 meters for Harmon, who entered the race with the strategy to turn it on late.
But as Harmon hit the final straightway, she feared she had waited too long to make her move.
“My plan was to stride it out for the first 300 meters,” Harmon said. “Once I saw I was in fifth, I knew it was time to kick it in.
“When I passed the fourth girl, I thought I was going to get third or second,” Harmon said. “But once we hit 50 meters, they started to slow down, and my strides got bigger, and I pushed myself.”
That’s when she realized she was about to do something special. Something when the season began she had no idea she could accomplish.
Harmon had no clue entering the season how good she could be. Already a standout basketball player at Redbank Valley, her experience in track and field was limited.
The 400 wasn’t even on her radar until early in the campaign. Harmon figured she’d stick to the 100- and 200-meter dashes, as she had in junior high.
Harmon, though, developed a knack for the difficult 400, an event that many athletes loathe because of its grueling nature.
It’s not quite an all-out sprint, but not quite a distance race, either.
The event taxes even the best of runners. The final 100 meters is where the best rise.
“That’s when your legs go numb,” a grinning Harmon said after her win at the District 9 meet last week. “That last 100 meters, that’s when the hate comes in.”
Harmon conquered those final 100 meters at the state meet with aplomb.
“I just got on the right mindset,” Harmon said, smiling. “I had the determination.”
The state title softened the blow of a difficult Friday for Harmon.
She didn’t make the finals in the high jump, clearing just 4 feet, 10 inches. She also missed out on qualifying for the finals in the 200 by .01 seconds, placing ninth. She also ran a leg on the Redbank Valley 1,600-meter relay that didn’t qualify for the championships Saturday.
But Harmon had the fourth fastest time in the 400 preliminaries at 58.91 — just a shade off her previous best of 58.73 — and felt confident going into the finals.
“I just thought it’s a new day. I only have one event to focus on today,” Harmon said. “That’s what I really put my mind into and thought about.”
Harmon has already etched her name into the history books at Redbank Valley. Her goal all season in the 400 was to break one minute. She finally did that just last week at the district meet and has now smashed through the 58-second mark.
She still has three more years to add to her burgeoning legacy.
“It means a lot,” Harmon said. “I can come back the next three years and maybe even do it again. That means so much to me. It hasn’t really sunk in yet. I think it will later on the way home.”
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