adieu ellett track

19 years.

it’s the number of years my parents have been going to state track.

today was their last year.

today was the last year a jan and mary ellett child will ever compete at state track.

today was the last day one of us will compete in a sport in high school.

19 years.

what do you say about 19 years.

(my count of attending may be more in the 15-16 year range, but regardless.)

what do you say?  

the best i can do is say just a little starting from the start.

because years like these can’t be described-

an end like this needs a grand production crew, music, and a voice over done by the finest producers and actors to rightfully attempt to captivate it.

it started before my eldest sister ran at state.

for me, track started when i was barely of age to enter the summer games.

i knew the first moment my shoes hit the rubber that it wouldn’t be my last- that that oval space would become an integral part of my life.

but state track first started with sarah-

i was 9 when I first walk through those gates at byu.

i didn’t know it at the time, but that first race i watched my sister run was the beginning of something epic.

3 time state champ in the 800m and medley.

4 time state champ in the 1600m and 3200m.

i’m not sure if anyone in the history of utah running has taken state all four years in x-country, the 1600m and 3200m with 3 year victories in the 800m and medley.

no disregard to the rest of the medley team members, but there were occasions where they were behind by 100m (sometimes more), and she made up the difference for the victory.
it was quite poetic watching sarah run.  

how many people can say that almost every race they ever ran at state track and state x-country they won.  

(p.s. my humble sister sarah is going to hate me for saying all this…… it still needed saying.)

there’s a certain kind of indescribable admiration you build for a person like that, and for the sport that let you see them that way.   

a career like hers is impossible to top.

we siblings found our way to the track in each our own way.

we each found our random victories in varying events- from relays to individual performances.

each a gold medal somewhere along the line, a few silvers and bronzes spattered through the years. 

my parents will always say our greatest victory in sports was being on the academic all-state teams. 

17 total times we made the teams in different sports.

back on the track though- 

nancy was beautiful to watch.

i remembering the strength of her stride and her power.

they took state as a team every year nancy was in high school.

my time arrived.

to keep in line with the “middle child, black sheep” label i became a sprinter, later hurdler.  

if you don’t compete in the same events as your legendary sister, no one can expect such achievement.

anything over a half mile was no race for me- i preferred a quarter of the track, maximum whole track.

100

200

300h

400

that was my space.

a lap or less.

i ran the 800m my first few years,

then i discovered there was another event that didn’t require me to go around the track more than once.

i started sprinting in elementary school see-

once i got a taste for the thrill of attempted speed i couldn’t get it out.

(plus my mom may say my younger tempered personality may have been an optimal breeding ground for such explosive activity……)

so i sprinted and hurdled.

my brother porter, well, instant hero status running with one arm.

it was a thing of beauty watching him surprise the hell out of people.

then came the cabooses.

maggie and hannah.

maggie’s form is so lovely it belongs in running commercials.

last year she, hannah, and their friends, the twins, broke the state record in the 4x400.

it was the only year of state track i didn’t get to watch my siblings compete.

this year was the last year.

hannah our caboose.

a victory in the long jump. (an event she only seriously started doing this year- she did it once last year)

seeing her hurdles were impressive- she hit the hurdles in each of her races and still finished spectacularly.

then came the 4*400-

she was the second leg, when she got the baton she was in second to last place.

it was as if that hand-off was the realization of the end.

she ran down 6^th place, then 5^th, and before i knew it she was running down the front pack.

they didn’t even stand a chance.

her power stride was not going to be denied the lead.

she surpassed them with the grace of a true champion;

then distanced herself so all we saw was her.

her.

hannah.

finishing these 19 years with the only display so many years merit.

anything that goes on that long needs an epic finish.

hannah knew what needed doing and she did it.

the team didn’t end up winning the race,

but i’ll never forget watching that last lap of hannah’s.  

an end to what has become a family tradition.

i couldn’t help but get sentimental.

it rained the whole time we were there.

my sister-in-law carlie said jokingly that the heavens were mourning the end.

i sort of thought at that moment, and right now while I’m thinking of it, that it felt true in an epic movie ending sappy sentimental sort of way.

it was one of those moments in life that doesn’t feel real.

those moments that you look back on and for a moment in that moment you feel like it can’t be real.

like a playback of your life that’s happening in the present,

and I’ll always be grateful

grateful for 19 years

the defeats

the victories

the glory of  all that is track

adieu sports that include a jan-mary ellett.

you encase some of the grandest and most glorious moments in each of our lives.

19 years.

farwell.   

(the whole crew from back at state x-country)