Anderson Headed to State

Intimidated? No way!

Freshman Ashley Anderson was the only Orion Charger competing at the Class 1A state track meet on Thursday, May 21, at O’Brien Stadium on the Eastern Illinois University campus in Charleston.

Unfazed by the surroundings, she ran a personal-best 2 minutes, 25.85 seconds and placed fourth in her preliminary heat.

Anderson needed to beat the third-place finisher’s time of 2:25.10 to get into the finals on Saturday, May 23.

“In a normal year, 2:25.85 would get you to the finals,” coach Jeff Padgett said. “This was an exceptional year for times at the state meet.

“As a freshman, to run your personal best at the state meet is very good,” he said. “She wasn’t intimidated at all. She got out strong like she was supposed to and didn’t get boxed in.

“She had a good run,” the coach concluded. “Too bad she didn’t get a second run.”