At every meet, junior Lillie Hatfield scores all the points for Medora’s girls track and field team.
The reason: She’s the only girl to dawn a red-and-white uniform with “Medora” across the chest.
Due to injuries and a lack of interest, Hatfield serves as a one-girl team at Medora — the second-smallest public school in Indiana with an enrollment of 97 students at the high school.
Without any prior running experience, Hatfield wanted to represent her school and stay involved in extracurricular activities.
Now, you can find her running the streets of Medora getting ready for the next meet.
“At first, I didn’t think it would be very fun,” Hatfield said.
“Usually, (opposing runners) don’t know that I’m on the team by myself. I always go and talk with them and they ask me where I’m from. It motivates me. I like representing the school.”
Determination has pushed Hatfield to new heights and set the Hornets’ new standard in multiple events.
This season, Hatfield broke the school record in the 1,600 by posting a time of 6:24 and in the 3,200, clocking 14:00.
On Tuesday, she broke the record in the 800 with a time of 2:51.
At some meets, Hatfield has also competed in the long jump.
In a competition at Edinburgh, she picked up a win by leaping 13-0 which was one inch shy of another Medora High School record.
After assisting the cross-country team in the fall, Hornets first-year coach Blake Albrecht knew the numbers would prove shallow for track.
“After cross-country, we knew that the girls side would be thin,” Albrecht said. “Originally, when we had call-out meetings, it looked like there would be five or six girls. One was injured and the other decided they didn’t have a lot of interest.”
Hatfield didn’t expect this kind of success in her first season.
“I didn’t really think about doing it until this year,” Hatfield said. “I’m not very good at sprinting, so I tried long distance.
“I didn’t think I would be very good. I thought I would finish last in every race. I feel accomplished after breaking school records. I feel like I’m going somewhere.”
Albrecht said Hatfield’s successes makes teams forget she’s the only girl from Medora High School.
“I think it’s pretty well received,” he said. “They know we have small numbers — our boys team isn’t large either with eight guys. Coming in, we have limited numbers and I think other teams don’t pay attention (that Hatfield is the only girl). I think it’s overshadowed by the fact she does really well when we get to meets.”
Albrecht said that Hatfield approached him prior to the season.
“She has never done it before, and when we asked her why she wanted to come out she said thought about doing it before,” Albrecht said. “It has been impressive to see her grow each week. She has come a long way
“The very first week we ran a timed mile and she ran around 7:58. In a matter two and a half months she has almost dropped two minutes. She’s working really hard and has the right attitude and mindset.”
Hatfield, who plans to run cross-country in the fall, wants to see her times drop as sectional approaches.
“I just want to get better than when I started out,” she said. “I tried reaching out to my friends multiple times, but they won’t do it. They even asked me why I was doing it. I told them that it’s better than not doing anything.”
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“I didn’t think I would be very good. I thought I would finish last in every race. I feel accomplished after breaking school records. I feel like I’m going somewhere.”
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