In a track meet heavy with competition and full of the nation’s top Division III runners, the air became still and the room fell quiet. Anchor and secret weapon, Claire Lamb, anxiously stood on her mark, waiting for the baton from teammate, Katy Foltz, in the women’s distance medley relay. With a pounding heart and steady breathing, Lamb visualized her 1600-meter leg of the race until the baton was placed in her hand. Then the volume of cheering teammates and coaches yelling filled her ears as she tried to keep pace with the other runners.
Friends and relay members Heather Sandvik, Sarah Bedell and Foltz, making up the team of all sophomores, anxiously and hopefully paced the sides of the track and cheered for Lamb the rest of the race. Crossing the finish line for a total relay time of 11 minutes and 53 seconds, Lamb secured the team a fifth-place finish. By placing among the top eight teams in their event, the four women now hold All-American status at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III Indoor Track and Field Championship.
At first there was only disappointment for the relay team. Coming into the meet with a time of 11 minutes and 51 seconds from their meet a week before, ranking them second out of the teams competing at nationals, the women had visions of first place.
“At first we were really quiet and disappointed because we were coming in seeded second,” said Bedell. “But then we realized—holy crap, we’re All-Americans.”
Otterbein’s women’s track program has a long history of talented athletes, many of whom have broken school records. But it’s those that break school records and go on to earn the title of All-American who have their legacies etched into the program and university.
“To break a record, you have to be driven,” said Dara Ford, head coach for the men’s and women’s track and field teams. “It’s less about the actual mark and more about striving to discover your best, wherever that takes you.”
Records that have marked the women’s track program as one that breeds All-Americans include Shyla Cummings’ time of 24.67 seconds in the 200-meter dash in 2015, Judy McLaughlin’s time of 2 minutes and 8.2 seconds in the 800-meter run in 1977 and Allyson Tobin’s shot put distance of 46 feet and 3.5 inches in 2008.
The distance medley is a race that consists of Sandvik in the 1200-meter leg, Bedell in the 400-meter leg, Foltz in the 800-meter leg and Lamb anchoring as the 1600-meter leg. Not only has the team broken the distance medley record time at Otterbein, but they are also the first distance medley team to earn All-American status.
“Before the season, I don’t think any of us would have expected to make it to nationals, let alone be named All-Americans,” said Sandvik. “It kind of puts things into perspective about what all the team has accomplished.”
However, for Lamb, record‑breaking times
doesn’t stop at the distance medley. Lamb holds records for both the 3000-meter run and the 5000-meter run at Otterbein, and her 5000-meter time is the fastest in Division III sports. Behind Lamb’s record‑breaking times lies a desire to win, but also a love and appreciation for the sport that brought her to these accomplishments.
Originally joining the track team in middle school as a hobby, Lamb began to enjoy the sport when she started noticing personal improvements. However, much of her motivation actually lies in the relationships she has built through the sport.
“I can’t imagine where I’d be without my team,” said Lamb. “The relationships are the most important component because without those relationships, it’s hard to stay motivated.”
Fellow teammate and All-American pole vaulter, Harmony Kolling, is a senior whose 13 feet and 0.75 inch jump at nationals last year landed her second place. She agrees that relationships fuel her motivation in her event.
When describing the moment she broke Otterbein’s pole vaulting record as well as placing second at nationals, Kolling describes her motivation coming from her teammates, and especially her pole-vaulting coach, Karl Wunderle.
“My goal for this year was only 12 feet,” said Kolling. “My coach kept telling me that I have much more in me and if I worked, I’d see it too.”
For the past three years, Kolling felt discouraged. With a previous personal best of 11 feet and 6.5 inches, Kolling did not see herself breaking records, but her time at the national meet changed everything.
On the day of the national meet, team members from various events lined up beside the pit cheering. The height of the bar was unknown to Kolling. Coach Wunderle didn’t tell her the height of the bar in order to help keep Kolling calm. After Kolling’s record-breaking jump, both her teammates and coach erupted in celebration.
“Coach came up and hugged me and told me he had never had anyone make 13 feet,” said Kolling. “I felt like I was almost blacked out. I felt like I had finally begun to prove my potential that coach had been seeing all this time.”
As Kolling continues her senior year of pole vaulting, she uses the support of her teammates and coach to push for a goal of 14 feet.
Kolling and Lamb are two of the best women in all of Division III athletics according to Ford, and their success is helping lay the groundwork for further success for the Otterbein track and field team.
