Lafayette Jeff relay gets redemption with sectional record

WEST LAFAYETTE — Wait, Mykah, wait.

Mykah Killebrew kept reciting it in her head.

The Lafayette Jeff freshman stood in the fourth turn Tuesday evening when the 400-meter relay began saying it to herself over and over.

She watched as Nykela Haskins dashed to a big lead and delivered a perfect handoff to Courtney Beckford, who extended the Bronchos’ advantage at the sectional.

Beckford placed the baton into Julie-Ann-Stephany’s hand in perfect stride and the moment of truth was coming as Stephany got closer to Killebrew for the final leg.

Wait, Mykah, wait.

Then she reached her hand behind, anticipating the moment to take off to the finish line.

“She put it in my hand so lightly and I thought, oh shoot, I got it,” Killebrew said after she finished off what was a sectional-record breaking run at Harrison’s Rickard Field. “I wanted to stop and jump up and down.”

The last two big meets before this instilled nerves among the entire foursome, but the most pressure was on Killebrew.

Lafayette Jeff had a large lead in the event at the North Central Conference meet two weeks ago when Killebrew entered another lane on the last handoff and the Bronchos were disqualified. Four days after that, another disqualification with a large lead at the City/County meet when Killebrew took off out of the exchange zone before having the baton in hand.

These two mishaps on the backs of Lafayette Jeff’s 400 relay team last year, anticipating a spot in the state finals, dropping the baton on an exchange in the regional meet.

Haskins and Beckford were a part of that squad and the now seniors wanted a chance to get to the regional for redemption and another shot at making it to the state meet.

Both watched eagerly as the final exchange was made Tuesday night.

“I told the girls, ‘You all know we can make it to that next level, we just have to get this handoff,’ ” Haskins said. “It was all about the handoffs. Everybody’s mind was right. Everyone was good and we ended up following through.”

Killebrew contained her excitement long enough to dash down the frontstretch after successfully taking the handoff as the crowd roared, knowing they’d finally get to see what the tandem was capable of.

The end result was 48.62 seconds, breaking the previous sectional and school record set by last year’s Lafayette Jeff 400 relay.

“This is the one we needed,” Beckford said. “We made it count.”

Despite the way things shook out in the NCC and City/County meets prior, Lafayette Jeff coach Chad Edwards kept the lineup the exact same for the sectional.

But he was nervous.

The last two times, he was in the fourth turn and had to be the one to call the disqualification on his own team.

That wasn’t the case Tuesday and Edwards retreated into the bleachers where he could still watch the race, but was far away from the action.

Like the athletes, Edwards breathed a sigh of relief when Killebrew crossed the finish line and finally unloaded her excitement, leaping into the air with a large smile on her face.

“It was a stress relief. It felt good,” Stephany said. “There was a lot of pressure.”

They heard chatter from other schools and within their own school.

Don’t get disqualified, almost as if it was becoming a running joke.

The Bronchos got the last laugh Tuesday night.

“All it took was following through and shaking all the nerves. It was all the handoffs,” Haskins said. “We had the team. We had the time.”

Sam King covers high school sports for the Journal & Courier. Email him at sking@jconline.com and follow him on Twitter and Instagram @samueltking.