Evansville-bound Trojans senior Veronica Wilgocki leads three freshmen teammates into 4x800 relay at Tuesday’s Chesterton sectional track and field meet

Tom Keegan
Onwardtrojans.com

Friends, teammates, coaches and family members proud of Veronica Wilgocki and proud to know her made it to the Chesterton cafeteria to witness her signing scholarship papers to attend the University of Evansville, where she will run cross country and track.
Chesterton freshmen Hannah Haring, Taylor Kisic and Paige Clancy, the girls who carry the baton before handing it to Wilgocki to anchor the 4x800 relay were on hand, full of gratitude for the center of attention.
“I love having V on our team. She’s very encouraging,” Kisic said of Wilgocki. “She kind of just brings us all together. She’s fun to be around, and it’s fun to have a team member who’s so encouraging. Without that, the 4x8 wouldn’t be such a close bunch.”
Wilgocki isn’t just another teammate to any of the girls on the 4x8, an event that Chesterton has run at state in each of the past five seasons.
“She’s more like a coach, I feel like,” Haring said.
A cliquey type might not have the time for freshmen, so it’s to the relay team’s benefit that Wilgocki is as far from that personality type as is imaginable. She takes her leadership role with them seriously and believes a positive approach is the way to go.
“They’re freshmen, so when you’re a freshman it’s a different atmosphere. You get more nervous. You’re not used to the pressure,” Wilgocki said. “Obviously, I have four years of training, and they only have one year, so it’s a little different mentally for them. It’s harder. So, preparing them to be mentally and physically stronger was my approach with them and just taking it slow, teaching them how to be comfortable running with me, running as a team and pushing each other the best we can.”
The girls showed how far ahead of schedule they are in a meet at Chesterton on May 6 when they ran a 9:37.94. Just two weeks before that, the same four girls ran a 10:08.27. In between, they were timed in 9:56.23 at the Princess Relays.
“V crossed the finish line, and I looked up at the clock and I kind of did a doubletake. I saw 9:37 and I thought in my head that’s 20 seconds better than I last one,” Kisic said. “I was just excited that we broke 10.”
Clancy was the only of the three freshmen who ran cross country. Haring played soccer and Kisic played on the golf team, and since the opening weeks of spring were so cold, they hadn’t trained in heat, except for the Saturday before the DAC championships.
They didn’t fare as well at the DAC meet with a fifth-place finish and a 9:49.58 on a hot day at Valparaiso in a meet that was delayed because of a lightning strike in the area.
The freshmen didn’t have experience racing on such a hot day and dealing with a delay. Valparaiso won the race in 9:19.73, followed by Lake Central (9:28.72), Crown Point (9:44.52) and Portage (9:45.39).
Chesterton’s 4x8 runners will have a chance to show Tuesday that the time they ran May 6 was a truer representation of where they are on their march to improvement than the race at the DAC meet. The race kicks off the Chesterton sectional meet, scheduled to start at 4:45 p.m.
Wilgocki said that when the meet was delayed, she sensed that her teammates were out of sorts and tried to get them into the right mindset.
“They were just stressed out,” Wilgocki said. “I took them through a meditative session, and we meditated together, and it was great but that delay I think is what did it for us. But I think we’re all capable of dropping a 9:37, even faster, because we’ve trained for it, we have the endurance, and we have the workouts that prepared us for it.”
The top three finishers in each event are guaranteed spots at the regional, and a third-place finish there would guarantee Chesterton a spot in the state field. DAC schools have the top six times from those participating in the Portage regional, so moving ahead of Crown Point and Portage at the regional should result in the Trojans heading back to state in the event.
If they get there, it will mark Wilgocki’s third consecutive year running the 4x800 relay at state. When she was a sophomore, classmate Allison Van Kley, slowed by injuries this spring, joined her on the relay, as did junior Madison Trumbo and senior Alyssa Dunlap.
“I think Alyssa was our rock my first time at state and getting there,” Wilgocki said. “She was the one who held us together. She was our anchor leg, she was our fastest, she knew how to prepare us for it, she really calmed our nerves down talking to us and preparing us before our meets and races.”
At Evansville, as a freshman Wilgocki will be back in the position of following the leader. For now, she’s the rock.
When it’s time to move on, she has a strong feeling that she will develop close bonds to her next group of teammates at Evansville, where her brother, Oliver, recently finished his freshman season as a member of the cross country and track and field teams.
Veronica became sold on the school as the right destination when she made a campus visit.
“I enjoyed the atmosphere, I loved talking to the coach, I met some teammates and they’re honestly amazing, and the atmosphere in general is really good for me and I think I will thrive there in general,” she said.
Few things would make her happier than to ride the momentum of a third consecutive 4x800 relay run at the state meet into her college running career.