‘I couldn’t let her beat me’: McClelland completes Blue Devils’ comeback in final race at Becky Thatcher Relays

PALMYRA, Mo. — Amick McClelland waited with what little bated breath she had left in anticipation of the results popping up on the scoreboard.

“That was the most nerve-wracking thing I’ve ever experienced,” McClelland said.

McClelland, a senior on the Quincy High School track and field team, had just expended every ounce of energy she had in trying to chase down Fort Zumwalt South’s Trinity Edmonds in the last leg of the 4×400 relay, the final event of Tuesday’s Becky Thatcher Relays at Palmyra High School.

McClelland and Edmonds crossed the finish line side-by-side, and McClelland could not tell whether she had lunged enough to beat Edmonds to the line.

“I was so nervous I didn’t get it for my team,” McClelland said.

Those nerves turned to euphoria when the name “Quincy” appeared next to the No. 1 on the finishing order that flashed on the scoreboard, with the Blue Devils’ time of 4:23.56 just .04 seconds ahead of Fort Zumwalt South. 

McClelland screamed with joy and lept into the arms of Peyton Kuhl, who ran the relay’s third leg for the Blue Devils.

“Once we found out, everybody was yelling and screaming,” Kuhl said. “We were all so happy.”

If not for Kuhl, McClelland may not have been close enough to catch Edmonds. When Kuhl began her leg of the relay, the Blue Devils were in fourth, nearly a full corner behind the cluster of three runners at the front. Kuhl worked her way up to second, setting the stage for McClelland’s mad dash.

“I didn’t think I was going to catch them until the last 200 when my coach was like, ‘You’ve got to go!’” Kuhl said. “The last 200, I just gave it everything I had. I was pumping my arms so hard.”

As the anchor, McClelland had a few extra moments to recover after winning the 3200-meter run about 25 minutes earlier. She used that little bit of recharge time, along with some mental encouragement, to push her to victory.

“Really around the last 150 meters, I told myself, ‘I have to go. I’m so close,’” McClelland said. “I couldn’t let her beat me.

“You really just have to stay mentally strong the entire time. Whether you’re racing or after you finish racing, it doesn’t matter how tired you are. You know if you have another event coming up, you have to turn it around and try to tell yourself that you’re not tired.”

Even if she really was tired.

“I am very exhausted right now,” McClelland said. “I usually don’t run back-to-back events. It was crazy to have to do those back-to-back.”

McClelland and the 4×400 relay team’s nail-biting victory put a cap on a Blue Devils’ team title. The girls team finished with 162 points, 32 ahead of Hannibal and second and 56 clear of Fort Zumwalt South in third.