Thirty hours. That was the round-trip road trip, give or take the astronomical delays of the Friday afternoon rush hour — OK, make that hours — for a coach and five athletes from Edward Little High School.
No medals are coming home to Auburn from Greensboro, N.C., only memories.
Ask them if it was worth it and you'll get the same resounding answer.
The EL delegation competed Thursday and Friday in the New Balance Nationals on the campus of North Carolina A&T.
Javelin thrower Kelly Philbrook and the 4x100 relay team of Ayumi Ranucci, Jaclyn Masters, Avery Chisholm and MaryKate Masters qualified by virtue of their performances at the New England meet Saturday in Saco.
"We've been waiting in traffic for over three hours," coach Rebecca Hefty said late Friday afternoon. "This drive is crazy but was well worth the trip."
Philbrook made the finals in javelin, placing seventh out of 24 athletes in the opening round before taking eighth in the Thursday finals.
Her throw covered 107 feet, 11 inches. The champion from North Carolina cleared 120 feet.
Three of the top eight throwers were from New England.
"Kelly was the star," Hefty said. "Eighth overall is awesome."
Philbrook had placed 10th at New Englands.
The 4x100 team competed in one of three heats, run at 8:30 a.m. Friday. The Eddies' time of 50.32 seconds was good for 11th overall.
EL broke the 50-second barrier at New Englands, running the fastest time in Maine this spring and setting a school record in order to qualify.
Jaclyn Masters also competed in the pole vault, ultimately falling short in her three tries at 10 feet, 5 inches.
"There was a pretty crazy tail wind," Hefty said.
As a team, Edward Little won its sixth consecutive Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference girls' championship before finishing second in the Class A state meet.
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