It was quite the weekend for the Ann Arbor Pioneer girls.
Of course, that might be selling the team short.
On Saturday at the Saginaw Valley State University Distance Festival, which is part of the Michigan Indoor Track and Field Series, the team known as the Purple Track Club absolutely demolished the national high school girls distance medley relay record with a time of 11:21.95, which was 13 seconds faster than Lake Braddock's 2017 mark of 11:34.54.
But the only hitch? The squad of Sarah Forsyth, Emily Cooper, Cookie Baugh and Rachel Forsyth did so on a 300m flat track, making the record void. Indoor records must be achieved on 200m tracks.
All that being said, the performance was unassailable.
Again, the time was 11:21.95, a full 13 seconds faster than the former national record. Let that sink in.
According to Michigan's Jeff Hollobaugh, an associate editor for Track and Field News and a record keeper for high school performances in the state, the splits went as such: Sarah Forsyth posted the 1,200m split in 3:29.1; Emily Cooper ran 61.7 over 400m; Cookie Baugh recorded a time of 2:12.0 in the 800m; and Rachel Forsyth closed the 1,600m in 4:38.7.
Rachel Forsyth's final split would have been a new U.S. No. 1 in the 1,600m by a full eight seconds. Not surprisingly, she already owns the nation's top open 1,600m time of 4:44.20.
Better yet?
The team also lined up for the 4x800 and knocked off a second off their U.S. No. 1 time, finishing in a new national lead of 8:59.20.
That team also consisted of the Forsyth sisters, Baugh and Cooper.
