Indy Star

 

By Paul Shepherd

Stacia Weatherford has accomplished just about everything she could in track and field.

The Lawrence North High School senior has been a three-time, three-event qualifier in the state meet, improving in her events each year, punctuated last year by a pair of state titles. Weatherford won the 300-meter hurdles and was on the winning 1,600 relay team at the 2008 state championships.

So what's left for an encore? Plenty, according to Weatherford.

"A repeat in the 300 and (1,600)," Weatherford said for starters. "I also want to break the national record in the 300, but the main thing is to first break the state record. I also want to win the 100 (hurdles)."

The state record in the 300 is 42.51 seconds, set in 1987 by Columbia City's Deb Sauers. Weatherford won the state title last year in 43.45 seconds.

The fifth-ranked Wildcats closed their regular season Tuesday at the Marion County meet, where the team placed third behind North Central and Lawrence Central. Weatherford won the 300 hurdles in a meet record 44.28 seconds, took second in the 100 hurdles and was on the second-place 1,600 relay, which was runner-up by six-hundredths of a second.

The Wildcats will compete in Tuesday's girls track sectional at Lawrence Central.

Weatherford, who recently committed to run track at Indiana State University, hasn't let up after winning state titles last year. She ran the anchor leg on Lawrence North's record-setting 1,600-meter relay team at the May 7 Warren Central Relays. She won Metropolitan Interscholastic Conference titles May 1 in the 300 hurdles and as the anchor on the 1,600 relay, and she finished as runner-up in the 100 hurdles.

"She's very positive," said LN coach Hillary Church. "She's always having fun, but when it comes time to race, she's very focused on her goals."

Legretta Smith, Weatherford's hurdles coach, said Weatherford has a unique drive and will to win.

"She's a hard worker and she just puts in the time and effort to get in shape," Smith said.

Her success as a hurdler has been made through hard work, but Weatherford's DNA doesn't hurt. Her mother, Adriene Pitts-Weatherford, was a hurdler in college and a member of the U.S. 1980 Olympic team.

Weatherford's teammate, sophomore Ashley Spencer, has the fastest time in the state this season in the 300 hurdles, yet she has never beaten Weatherford. Spencer ran a meet record 45.19 at the April 25 West Lafayette Relays, which Weatherford missed for prom.

"(Weatherford's) very focused on her own," Church said. "She pushes herself, and she has an outstanding coach (in Smith) and a great competitor (in Spencer) right there on the same team. All those things combined make for a successful year."