>>SOUTHERN INDIANA — May 19, 2009, was a painful day for the Floyd Central girls’ track team.

On that fateful day, the Highlanders held the lead at the Corydon Central Sectional heading into the final event. That’s when New Albany’s 1,600-meter relay team beat Floyd’s by 10 seconds to steal the sectional crown from the Highlanders.

“It hurt, especially because we lost it on the (4x400) relay,” Floyd senior Meghan Jones recalled.

The Highlanders have thought about that day often while training for the 2010 season. They are determined not to let it happen again.

“I personally think about that every day and we talk about that all of the time as a team,” said senior Nikki Roberts, who had four top-three finishes at the sectional as a junior, including a sectional crown in the 300 hurdles. “It motivates us every day at practice to work harder to reach that goal.”

“That’s definitely motivation,” Highlander head coach Sarah Fox said. “You always want to beat New Albany in conference and in the sectional.”

Jones said the Highlanders will use the first month of the season to prepare for a rematch with New Albany in the sectional.

“Dual meets, yea, they’re important. But for us, it’s just a practice for conference and sectionals and regionals,” Jones said. “We use the competition to see how hard we have to train. Sectional’s always on our mind and I’m sure everyone else’s, too.”

At a glance, it would appear that the Highlanders have more coming back than New Albany. Fox said she won’t be among those counting the Bulldogs.

“I think we have a good chance. But (New Albany) is always good and their coach (Casey Schneider) is good, too,” Fox said. “I expect it to be competitive, but I think we can win. I expect to win this year.”

“It looks really good this year,” Jones said. “It has started out better this year than it did last year.”

“We have a lot of strong people coming back, and we have a lot of good, strong freshmen who are going to help us,” Roberts said.

Although Jones and Roberts are the Highlanders’ top returnees, Floyd’s strength is its depth.

The Highlanders have at least one athlete returning who scored in the sectional in every individual event, expect shot put and discus.

Fox said she has a special group of seniors. Roberts is the team leader. During her pregnancy, Fox has had to miss some practice time. With Roberts in charge, the Floyd head coach doesn’t worry about her team one bit.

“She can take over and run the practice for me, and I trust that she can do as well — if not better — when I’m not there,” Fox said. “So, she’s a great person to have around.”

Both Fox and Jones admitted that Roberts’ leadership style is sometimes abrasive, but it’s always effective.

“Nikki is a great competitor. She wants to win,” Fox said. “She’s stubborn, and she wants to beat everyone. She gets mad when she thinks she can run faster.”

“Nikki’s a beast,” Jones said with a laugh. “She’s the toughest girl we have on the team. She seems like she’s being mean sometimes, but she’s not at all. She’s just very passionate. She really pushes everyone. We look to her for inspiration and support. She’s very motherly to our team.”

Jones, who won the 200 and 400 in last year’s sectional and finished second in the high jump, is Floyd’s top returning athlete.

“Meghan can pretty much rock any race that she puts her mind to,” Roberts said. “She’s been pretty much training for this for her whole life. She’s been running since elementary school. She’s an inspiration for the whole team.”

Jones said if it comes down to the final event this year, she’s confident the Highlanders will pull it off.

“We have a really strong 4x4 relay this year,” Jones said of herself, Kelsey Mayfield, Alyssa Moore, Hannah Keehn and Marissa Samons.