Showing that ‘winning spirit’

When the bell rings, it’s time to head for home.
In track jargon, that means there’s one lap left around the oval.
For the New Hampton Chickasaws, that has translated into plenty of top-flight finishes to start the young track season thus far in 2021.
There’s even been a few photo finishes at the tape for NH head coach Jeanette Laures’ girls track squad.
Regardless, this season is shaping up to be a productive one for the Chickasaws in many events.
New Hampton competed back down at Waverly on Tuesday and up at Decorah on Thursday last week.
In all, several top spots were awarded to NH standout athletes. There were also some game efforts accomplished in the runner-up slot by Chickasaw competitors.
One such near miss came in the 800 run as NH senior Maddie Usher came within what seemed like a nose of Waverly-Shell Rock’s Ramey Dahlquist for first place. The hard-charging Usher crossed the finish line in 2:46.80, just back of Dahlquist’s 2:46.42. Usher passed and held off Fort Dodge’s Alexis Ross (2:47.76) in the last 30 meters to secure second place but could not catch up to the Go-Hawk runner.
It was that grit and resolve by Usher that impressed her head coach.
“I can't say enough great things about Maddie. She is such a valuable team member. She brings a positive vibe to our team and showed incredible competitiveness down the homestretch in her open 800, narrowly getting edged out at the finish line,” said Laures.
— For more on this story, see the April 13 Tribune