There was a rough start to the girls 3A 4x800 relay. Abbey Daley of Clarksburg was tripped and pushed to the ground. The start of the race was blown dead. Daley had fallen hard on her hip and scraped up what seemed like half her body. It was not the best way to start off her first track state championship meet, but the officials let her take time to clean off and gather herself before they restarted the race.

There was a little shoving in the second start, but she got out ok and ran about a 2:30 split. The team proceeded to run a school record time of 10:00.83 which was good for second place.

Daley had just enough time between races to get some ice on her hip and rest up a little bit. Within an hour, she was back on the starting line and felt really good. The pace did not feel hard to her so she just went along for the ride. With two laps to go she decided to push the pace just a little bit. On the final lap, she was not surprised to see other runners pass her. She calmly let them move around her before she kicked past a large bunch of runners in the last 50 meters for the win. To herself, she thought, "Hey, I just won."

And she made it look easy.

Although she is a freshman in high school, Daley is not a rookie runner by any means. She says that she has been running competitively since she was about eight or nine years old, but not in Maryland.

She was born in Las Vegas, Nevada where she lived for eight years. She moved to California for about two and a half years before moving to Wyoming for about two and a half years. She ran for track clubs in both California and Wyoming including the club that her father started in Wyoming.

Since entering Clarksburg High School, she has won a 1600-meter state title and was the runner up at the 3A state cross country championship, all while practicing and competing in club soccer several days a week.

She says that her goal for outdoors is to do the same thing she did indoors.

Before Daley came along, the undisputed fastest distance runner in Clarksburg history was Lauren Sumner, who now has a state title of her own.

When Sumner got the baton in the 4x800 relay there were no other runners around her. The first place team was too far ahead and the third place team was too far behind, so she held her position and anchored the team to the aforementioned school record. She said that it was the first time that every relay team member ran well on the same day.

Passing the time by snacking on perfectly organic cheddar bunny crackers, she told herself that she didn't want to go out too fast in the open 800 like she often did.

She did not go out too fast. In hindsight, she thought she went out really slow and had a lot of ground to make up after the first lap. She worked her way up to the lead over the second lap and took over the lead with 400 meters to go. She felt confident in her long drive to the finish and never relinquished the lead. She said that she wasn't even sure how close her competition was behind her and just focused on holding the lead. She clocked a time of 2:24.42, which was not her best, but she said that she was only racing to win.

She later admitted that she sometimes doesn't feel that she belongs with the top middle distance runners in Montgomery County, but being unfamiliar with her competition at states gave her a sort of blind confidence. Running with more confidence during this upcoming outdoor season (regardless of her opponents) is one of her main goals this outdoor season, along with breaking 2:20 in the 800.

Like her teammate Daley, Sumner also balances her running with another passion. She is in love with all things horses. As a result, she says, she is nowhere near making a college decision as she tries to find the school that best satisfies her equestrian affection.