Girls Track: West Side relay team pursuing a second straight state title

They laid it down on a wet track at Indiana University last spring, after two extended storm delays threatened to wash out the state meet altogether.

By the time West Side's Aarion Stines streaked across the finish line victoriously, it was nearly midnight in the Eastern time zone. Nobody in the Cougars' contingent down in Bloomington cared. Their 1,600-meter relay team finished the day in style, cruising to a state championship in an impressive time of 3:55.68.

That was less than 10 seconds off the state record set in 1983 by a team from Fort Wayne South Side, and the Cougars celebrated like crazy -- hugging and mugging for photos with tears and rain drops running down their cheeks.

"That was a crazy meet," said senior Keyona Neal, who ran the second leg of that race. "It was just … crazy."

Well, here's something else a little crazy. That team only had one senior on it, Mary Bell.

Stines, Neal and Nakia Taylor are all back this season to try and do it again -- and this time they'll have a freshman, Antoinette Taylor, running the second leg. The target is fixed squarely on their backs, but if the pressure from that title is weighing on the defending state champs, it's not showing in their results.

They recently defended their indoor state title in the 1,600 relay at the Hoosier State Relays down in Bloomington.

"We're the team to beat now," said Nakia Taylor, who is no relation to Antoinette. "We like it, because that just makes us work harder. We definitely want to defend the title. There's no reason why we shouldn't. We should win it again."

She points to the other Taylor on the team, the freshman, and notes that this isn't just any freshman. This is a seasoned track performer, whose times are right up there with what Bell was doing -- if not better.

Neal, who now runs the anchor leg, can sense the history this relay can make by winning it again.

"I'm trying to go out with a bang," she said. "This is my last year, and I want it to be special. But I'm also trying to set the tone for them, because they'll still have another year together after this."

Neal also ran on the Cougars' state-qualifying 400 relay last spring, and finished seventh in the state in the 400 dash. She'll also be looking to better those feats as a senior, and is this track team's unquestioned leader.

"She's like the mom," Nakia Taylor said. "She's the senior mom. She tells us if we don't get out to a lead, she's going to beat us up. She's like, 'Don't bring that baton to me in third or second.' Hey, it works."

West Side head coach Veronica Williams agrees with the "mom" analogy for Neal, who has committed to run track at the University of Memphis next fall.

"She's the captain," Williams said. "She's the leader. She does a real good job for me, and I'm real proud of her."

Williams was also bursting with pride after the 1,600 team went down to the state indoor meet in Bloomington a few weeks ago and burned up the track to defend their indoor state title from a year ago. This time, they shaved nearly 21 seconds off their qualifying time to become just the second 1,600 relay team in state indoor history to break the 4:00 mark.

West Side was in the 3:59 range, and the state indoor record in the event is in the 3:58 range -- set by Fort Wayne Northrop. Now it's onto the outdoor circuit, where in every meet they run, their opponents will know who to try and chase down.

"A lot of people are trying to catch up to us, so we're just trying to get stronger and stronger," Stines said. "These other teams that run against us just make us run harder."

Contact Brian Hedger at 648-3122 or bhedger@post-trib.com