Springlake-Earth freshman, Taytum Goodman, helped the Lady Wolverines track team finish sixth overall at the 1A State Track Meet in Austin last month.

                Goodman had a day, as she competed in the girl’s 400-meter dash, 800-meter run and 1,600-meter run. In her first race of the day, the 400-meter dash, she placed third with a time of 1:00.34. She came roaring back in the 800-meter run, where she clocked a time of 2:17.45 to claim first place and set a State record in the event. She capped off her day with the 1,600-meter run, where she captured another gold medal and set another State record with a time of 5:06.78.

                Goodman talked about how it felt to come home with three medals and two State records, saying, “It feels good. It was fun, that’s all I can say.”

                “In the 800, that was probably the hottest part of the day and it was windy, but when I crossed the finish line everyone stood up yelling, I knew I must have broken the State record,” she said. “In the quarter, the weather started going down, so it was a little bit better, but in the mile, my family told me at the end everyone started raising up out of the stands like a big wave, that was really cool to me.”

                She talked about what the process was like for her when they got to Austin, saying, “I wanted to go and watch, I didn’t want to stay at the hotel and do nothing. I tried to stay out of the sun as much as I could, but I wanted to go watch the other races.”

                The freshman talked about why she competes in her events, saying, “I just love running. That is what keeps me going along with my family.”

                Goodman talked about how her coach helped her prepare for the State Meet, saying, “She’s always there for me and she pushes me to do my best. She is just a really good coach.”

                Head Girl’s Coach, Jeri Been Goodman talked about being able to help these kids make it to State, saying, “I think the coaches support everybody and make the kids work. Everybody was for everybody. I think here at Springlake-Earth, that’s one thing about being from a small school like this, everybody supports everybody. Everybody was there cheering for everybody. It was something special getting to take my own two kids to compete, plus two great new kids, who are new to our school, and came in and helped represent Spriglake-Earth like Braxton and Carsann did.”

                She added, “I thought cross country was pretty special, but this was really special. We came back with  five medals between the four kids; I’ve gone before and people came home with no medals, so to do what we did was pretty special.”

                Goodman said that her goal for herself is to make to Austin three more years and break the 400 record and keep breaking her records she earned this year.

                She stated that the supports they have gotten from their family has been awesome.

                “It’s really good,” she said. “Our family always supports me and my brother. When me and my brother go out and run together, we push each other to help each other get better.”

                Coach Goodman talked about helping these kids prepare for State, saying, “I think just that want-to factor was there, because they did get cheated last year because of COVID-19. Braxton’s dad said it one day in practice, that if everyone would come out and chase Trace and Taytum in practice, we would have more than two going. Braxton bought into that pretty good and he is on Trace’s heels every day and his little sister tries to keep up with Taytum, and she is an eighth grader. They don’t get jealous, they don’t get envious, they just work.”

                She added, “Everybody knows, stay with Braxton on the hurdles, if you stay close to him, you’re going to place pretty close behind him.

                Lastly, Coach Goodman talked about the advice she offered these kids before heading to State, saying, “Jackie Dyksterhuis made it in 2011 and these two rode with me and then when Angel [Darden] made it two years ago, they went with me. They always knew that’s what they wanted to do, ‘I’m someday going to be here,’is what they told me. It is just great, being from here, and my kids going, the support that we had, Coach DeLeon was an awesome AD, he did a great job. I hate to say it was the best trip I’ve ever been on, but it was the best trip I’ve ever been on. It was great.”

                She added, “We also want to thank our school and Mr. Crum for letting us go down there a day early, so the kids could get a feel for the atmosphere.”