Blaine freshman’s success aided by a step outside her comfort zone

In the 300-meter hurdles, one second is a long time.

At the 2A Northwest Conference sub-district meet on May 8, the second- through fifth-place finishers crossed the line within one second of each other.

Blaine freshman Elee Faulkner finished first in 47.49 seconds, beating the second place runner by more than two seconds.

Equally impressive is that Faulkner started running 300-meter hurdles only a few months ago. With the postseason heating up, Blaine track coaches are hopeful Faulkner will succeed at districts May 15-17 and advance to the state tournament.

She’s a well-rounded runner who went to state for cross-country in fall 2018, and ran 100 meters and 100-meter hurdles in middle school. She has both endurance and sprint speed.

With that combination, she could be good in any running event, Blaine head coach Gabe Bolton said. He also coached her in cross-country and realized early on that she’s a gifted athlete. The trick to coaching her in track was figuring out where to put her, he said.

“I could put her in any running event in track and she would be my fastest girl, regardless of distance,” Bolton said.

Since she had experience in 100-meter hurdles and stamina for longer events, Bolton suggested the 300-meter hurdles. Faulkner said no.

The 300-meter hurdles has a reputation as one of the most difficult track events, along with 800 meters – both are lung-busting events that require sustaining intense anaerobic effort for longer than seems possible. For 300-meter hurdles, technique is also crucial.

“I was like, ‘I’m not running that,’” Faulkner said.

Bolton helped push her out of her comfort zone and eventually talked her into it … kind of.

“I didn’t get to say, ‘Yeah, OK, I’ll do it,’” Faulkner said. “He was like, ‘Elee, you’re running 300 today.’”

She placed second the first time she ran the event, at the March 22 Bedlington Twilight Invitational. Faukner, realizing the event fit her talents, stuck with it.

“It seemed a lot harder than it was. The hurdles are short; it’s just a little hop,” Faulkner said.

As her technique and rhythm between hurdles improved, so did her times. Coach Cherish Morrison told Faulkner to attack the hurdles, and now that’s what she thinks about before every event to cut through the nerves and anxiety of competition, and to avoid stutter stepping.

Though it’s now her favorite event, Faulkner is critical of her hurdling technique. She admits to having improved but sees more to work on.

“I don’t have form,” she said. “I’ve got the legs down but my arms look like I’m swimming. Other girls definitely have better form than me.”

Way ahead of the pack in the Northwest Conference, Faulkner is now closing in on the top 2A times in the state. Her personal best time of 47.19 seconds is the seventh fastest 2A time in the state, and Bolton thinks the competition she’ll face at the district tournament on May 15-17 could push her to go even faster.

If he’s right, her best times are still to come.