Running her best

Erica Hattamer has participated in the State B girls track and field championships as part of a team and as a solo representative of her school.

There’s no question in the Valley Christian junior sprinter’s mind: It’s better to have teammates around.

A three-sport athlete at Valley Christian, the home-schooled Hattamer says the atmosphere surrounding the cross country, basketball and track and field programs is especially important to her.

“Just about the only contact I have with my classmates is through sports,” she said. “I take a couple of classes at Central Valley, and there it feels like no one even knows who I am. But at Valley Christian, we’re all like family.”

From that standpoint, who wouldn’t want family around them at a state track meet?

“I qualified for the state meet as a freshman and ran the open 400 and on a couple relay teams,” Hattamer said. “But last year we had trouble even finding enough runners to make a relay team. I was the only member of my team to qualify. It was lonely.”

Despite being alone, Hattamer still made a big splash in the state meet – finishing second in a thrilling 400-meter final that saw three runners break the one-minute barrier, with less than a half-second separating first and third place.

The then-sophomore ran the fastest qualifying time, 59.6 seconds, but was out-leaned at the tape by Tacoma Baptist freshman Amber Finley, who clocked a 59.44 to Hattamer’s 59.82, with Tekoa-Oakesdale/Rosalia freshman Ashley Stabl third at 59.89.

This year Hattamer enters the state meet with the fastest qualifying time in the 400 – the 1:00.43 she ran to win the District 7B championship Friday at Spokane Falls Community College. Finley’s fastest time this season coming into state is 1:00.79; Stabl has run 1:02.14.

This year Hattamer has added the 200 meters to her repertoire – winning the District 7B championship with a time of 27.62 seconds in only her third race at that distance.

“I was doing the pole vault, but we had a couple meets where there was no pole vault for me to compete in,” Hattamer said. “So my coach stuck me in the 200. I did OK with it, so he left me in there.”

Unlike the 400 meters, Hattamer is not a favorite going into the state 200. Her district time is the eighth fastest – putting her in the last spot for the final.

But, Hattamer warns, times at state have a way of going down.

“I have never not run a personal record time at state,” she said. “There’s something about the meet and the competition that brings the best out of you.”

At the district meet, Hattamer was as concerned with getting her relay teammates into the state meet as she was for her own entry. Running the anchor leg, the school’s 4x200 and 4x400 teams each earned state berths.

“They’ve all worked so hard this year,” she said. “They’ve gotten better and better each time out. I wanted them to get the chance to run at state.”

Both relay teams feature freshman Brittany Croft, junior Whitney Wolf and senior Hilja Hermann, with freshman Kayle Combs as the alternate. The group finished third in the district 4x200 final with a season best time of 1:53.62. Not long after, the same group finished third in the 4x400 final with a time of 4:24.39.

“It was a great experience for me to run at state in the relays as a freshman,” Hattamer said. “It helped me get better. I’m sure it will be the same for my teammates.”

Hattamer feels she’s running her best going into the final meet of the season, despite missing two weeks during the season because of illness.

“I missed a bunch of meets – at least three meets – while I was out,” she said. “And it took me quite a while to get back to where I was before I got sick.

“Right now, I’d have to say I’m at 100 percent. Whether or not I am, this is where I am.”

Hattamer said she feels she’s running better than ever, benefiting from first-year coach Larry Davis’ emphasis on technique.

“We spend a lot of time working on our technique,” she said. “I’ve trusted my coach and worked on what he’s asked me to work on and it really helps.

“Coming into the final 50 meters of the 400, when it really feels like I’m starting to slow down, I’ll hear my coach yelling at me – ‘Use your arms! Use your arms!’ ” she said. “So I’ll concentrate on using my arms more. It doesn’t really make sense and I don’t know why it works, but I go faster.”

And faster is what it’s all about on the final weekend of the season.