Perryville junior track athlete Tegan Bishop broke the school record in the 800-meter run during the Class 4 sectional meet to advance to state. She was hoping to match or even exceed that time on Friday.
However, it was not in the cards.
Bishop finished 14th overall in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:32.76 at the Class 4 state meet in Jefferson City.
Bishop ran 2:21.28 at the sectional meet to set the school record, which was eight seconds faster than her previous personal best. Her time at the state meet was approximately 11 seconds slower at the state meet.
“She was not happy with her performance, there’s no doubt about that,” Perryville track coach Brent Broeking said. “She felt like she could have done better.”
Rainy weather pushed the Class 4 sectional Festus that Bishop ran in to Monday, May 23 instead of two days earlier.
Along with the 800-meter run that Bishop qualified for, she also ran the 3,200 meter race and came in seventh place, well behind the rest of the field. Broeking felt like Bishop never fully recovered.
“If you look at the girls that ran at our sectional on Monday, they had exceptionally fast times and ran slower at state,” Broeking said. “To run that hard at sectionals and then come back at state, I think it took something out of her. She tried her best and went as hard as she could, but I’m not sure she recovered enough to do as well as she wanted to.”
Jayden Barnes of Kearney High School took the top spot in the race with a time of 2:17.00. Bishop’s record time would have placed her sixth overall.
Bishop currently holds the Perryville girls cross country record time, that she achieved this past fall, but Broeking noted that obviously the 800-meter race is a totally different animal.
“It has everything to do with pacing,” he said. “You are running two times around a track as opposed to three miles. When you get to state you are running against the top athletes in the state.”
Bishop will return for her senior season next year and Broeking hopes she will return to the state meet once again.
“I fully expect her to get better and get back here next year,” he said. “She is a great competitor and she works as hard as anybody.”
