Chasing the dream with the team behind her.

Although the team had a week off because of meet cancellations, senior Lauren Masden competed at a prestigious meet and her team was there to cheer her on.

The track and field team had only one official meet planned for this week, but it was canceled. Masden was the only one to compete this week because she qualified for the Kentucky Dream Mile. The team only has one more meet before they compete at regionals.

On Thursday, May 4, the team had planned on attending the Bardstown Invitational. However, the meet was canceled in result of bad weather. The risk of injury would have been high if the runners were to compete in the bad weather.

Masden competed at the Kentucky Dream Mile at St. Xavier on Friday. The race was limited to the 16 fastest mile runners in Kentucky. Based on times from throughout the 2017 season, Masden was placed 15 out of the 16 runners.

In the mile run, Masden finished tenth out of 16 with a time of 5:19.18. “She did fantastic. This race had the best mile runners in the state. We knew the pace would be fast. So the plan was to go out with the middle of the pack and stay in there throughout the race. She was in great position with one lap to go. The last lap was tough, but she hung on and finished strong. She broke the school record by over nine seconds. She learned some important racing lessons and there is no doubt if she ran it again, she would run faster. No doubt she is considered one of the better middle distance runners in the state,” said Lenny Raley, coach of the track and field team.

“The dream mile was an amazing experience, as I got to run against the best milers in the state,” said Masden.

The team will be competing at the Bullitt County Cup at home on Monday, May 8. After this meet, the team will be competing at regionals at Male High School on May 13.