Freshman Echols' anxiety doesn't get in way of state title

Coming directly from Athens Christian's middle-school track program to varsity competition, freshman Mary Echols spent the spring adjusting to a considerably quicker pace.

"It was a pretty big jump because everybody's faster," said the 14-year-old Echols. "Varsity is much more of a challenge. At the beginning, I was like, 'Whoa ...' But as the season got going, I became a little more comfortable."

Even though she won four Region 8-A titles and qualified for five events at the Class A state track meet in Albany, Echols found her old anxieties returning, but it would be hard to recognize that based on her performance last weekend.

"I was really nervous," she said. "I had to get focused, get past that nervousness and go out and compete. You just have to look at what's ahead and go out and do what you have to do."

Leading a team comprised primarily of freshmen and sophomores, Echols won the Class A state crown in the 300-meter hurdles and scored 21 points as the Lady Eagles finished fourth overall with 46 points. Echols also finished second in the 100 hurdles and was on Athens Christian's 1,600 relay team that finished third and 400 relay team that finished fifth.

"I don't think anybody out there had a meet like Mary," Athens Christian coach Tim Cummings said. "You couldn't ask for a better meet, especially from a freshman."

Echols missed being a two-time state champion by a fraction of a second, finishing second in the 100 hurdles to Southwest Atlanta Christian's Synera Shelton (15.49 seconds) in a time of 15.69.

"(Shelton) was the state runner-up in 2008 and I think this was the third time she'd been to state," Cummings said. "Sometimes you just get beat by people who are faster. Mary ran faster than she'd ever run before, but I think she was upset she lost."

She rose to the occasion in the 300 hurdles, finishing in a time of 46.63 seconds and capturing her first state title.

"Winning at state was my goal," said Echols. "It was tough because I was tired and it was the next-to-last race of the day. I was very nervous, but the Lord helped me through it."

Now that Echols has a state championship to her credit, nobody can blame Cummings for thinking about state meets for the next couple of seasons. With Echols, Savannah Spranger (discus), Tara Dove (200), Bryanne Acker (1,600) and Emily Haley (pole vault) on board, the Lady Eagles should be set for the near future.

But there's no question that Echols will be the lynchpin for Athens Christian's success and may even one day rival the prep production of former Lady Eagle Whitney Bishoff, a first-year phenom who went on to win nine state championships (in cross country and track) during her tenure at the school.

"We scored 52 points at state in 2008 and graduated 44 of those points, and most of our kids were on the middle school team last year," said Cummings, who added that his daughters Cayla and Cassidy are in charge of Athens Christian's middle school track program. "But those kids came to varsity ready to compete. We've got several girls we can build around and Mary is certainly one of them. Mary is a lot like Whitney, in that she's gotten an early start, but Whitney did distance events and Mary also does field events."

"It's a good goal to work toward," said Echols of Bishoff's high school achievements. "If the Lord keeps me healthy to run at my fullest potential, we'll see what happens."

Cummings said his teams will put in the miles this summer to make sure they've got an even better shot at the state meet in 2010.

"You always feel good when your kids do as good a job as they can," he said. "We had some freshman mistakes, but that's part of the deal. We're going to work hard this summer and get into some AAU meets. We've got a shot down the road at being pretty good. And Mary is a great worker - she'll get it done. She's going to be a tough competitor."

When asked what her summer plans were, Echols said, "I'm going to run! I want to build off what we accomplished this year and I'll be ready when cross country starts in August."

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