Siblings unite: Two times four equals a unique sisterhood for Lexington's girls track team

LEXINGTON – Given the unusual makeup of the roster and the obvious synergy within the ranks, perhaps the motto of Lexington’s girls track team this spring should be: All 4 one, one 4 all.

Call it chemistry, camaraderie or cohesiveness. Whatever you call it, the four sets of sisters on Michelle Smith’s squad have created a heightened sense of family inside the program.

There’s senior Sarah Thomas and freshman Emily Thomas, senior Karis Hunter and freshman Natalie Hunter, junior Lily Wolfe and freshman Malaina Wolfe and junior Maddie Haring and freshman Megan Haring.

“Even Robbin (her husband) said to me, I’ve never seen your team this close before,” Smith said. “I never really reflected on the fact that I have so many sisters and you have the continuity of the girls being together.

“They just get along and they cheer for each other. The team spirit seems to be better this year, not that it was ever bad.”

Smith has coached one set of twins — Anna and Grace Freundlich — over her two decades at Lex, but when it comes to sharing DNA this multiple sisters dynamic warrants a resounding OMG.

Sisters play a part in winning Ohio Cardinal Conference championship

Six of the eight sisters had a hand in 71 of the 169 points Lex scored in winning the Ohio Cardinal Conference championship last Friday at Ashland University. And Megan Haring, a wheelchair athlete, competed in two non-scoring events during the meet, the 100 and 400 meters, lowering her personal-best time in the 400 by 12 seconds.

The OCC crown was the team’s third since 2017 and fourth consecutive tournament title this season. It gave Lex a healthy head of steam heading into the Division I district meet that concludes Saturday at Findlay High School.

On a team this talented and deep across the board, the toughest part of Smith’s job should be keeping the sisters straight when addressing them by name. Apparently, from checking with the girls, even that isn’t a huge issue, with one exception.

“I call Sarah Emily all the time,” Smith said, laughing. “I tell Sarah, ‘I know your name. I swear I do.’ I apologize all the time.”

After the OCC meet, Smith can simply call Sarah a league honoree. She was the female winner of the combined track/field award after competing on two winning relay teams while also finishing second in the long jump and fourth in the 100 meters.

Emily and Sarah Thomas run together on relay teams

The Thomases ran together on the first-place 4x100 and 4x200 relays, the latter setting a meet record in 1:45.19. Emily ran the pop-off leg in both races, while Sarah ran the second leg on the 4x200 and anchored the 4x100. They were joined by a different pair of teammates in both relays — Olyvia Stoots and Lauren Alexander in the 4x100 and Alexander and Makenna Arnholt in the 4x200.

“I think it’s fun to run on relays together (with Emily) because we understand each other,” Sarah said. “We pep talk each other. We know what each other needs to hear. We boost each other’s confidence because we know we can count on each other in the relays. And we’re both super competitive with each other, so we push harder because we don’t want to be beat by each other in an open event or in our (relay) splits.

“Because we are pushing each other with our competitiveness, it’s helping our team and it’s why I think we will go far this year.”

Karis Hunter qualifies for regionals in four events; Natalie showing signs of same versatility as sister

Karis Hunter last year became the first girl in program history to qualify for regionals in four events: the 400 and three relays. Natalie, who ran with her on the runner-up 4x800 at the OCC meet, is showing signs of the same versatility as big sis. The Lex freshman picked up the pole vault just a month ago and cleared 8-3 for sixth place at the league meet.

“Karis is so versatile,” Smith said. “She popped into the 4x2 last year because I was missing a leg. With her speed in the 400, she was able to do the 4x2, but when (that relay) qualified for regionals I thought, 'Wow, that’s phenomenal for someone to pop in and do that.'

“Four events is a tall task at districts. That’s crazy. That’s a lot of running.”

It doesn’t look like Karis will repeat that feat because she’s only slated to run three events this time at districts. As long as one of them is the 4x800, in which she collaborates with Natalie, she’s not going to complain.

“We get along really well. She’s one of my best friends,” Karis said. “Having my sister on the team makes me more comfortable with the other girls because I’m more comfortable with her. I think it helps the chemistry overall.”

In addition to anchoring the runner-up 4x800, Karis was second in the 400 and joined Lily Wolfe, Josalynn Patterson and Elyana Weaver on the winning 4x400 relay. It speaks to the superior depth on the squad that Karis was able to lessen her workload this season.

“I’m all right with just three (events),” she said, laughing.

Excluding relays, in which teams are limited to one entry, Lex had double-placers in 12 of the other 13 events at the OCC meet. By comparison, runner-up Mount Vernon only doubled-up in seven events.

Alli Reed (discus) and Josalynn Patterson (300 hurdles) were the only individual champs for Lex, but it swept the three sprint relays and finished two-three in both the 800 and 1,600.

Lily and Malania Wolfe following in steps of older sister Olivia

Lily Wolfe, who ran on the 4x400 and 4x800, and her younger sister Malaina are following in the footsteps of their older sister, Olivia. Lily had to recruit Malaina for cross country because she is also a promising tennis player, and that led to the two of them sticking together this spring.

“She’s better than me in cross country and pushes me,” Lily said. “In track I’m better than her, so I push her. We flip flop.”

Maddie Haring takes 8th in pole vault; sister Megan began wheelchair racing last year

Maddie Haring joined Lily Wolfe and the Hunter sisters on the runner-up 4x800 and she also took eighth in the pole vault. Her dad, Kevin, was a vaulter for Ontario.

“He really wanted me to try it,” she said, “and I ended up liking it.”

Megan Haring is a fan of her sister, but not necessarily the vault.

“Sometimes it can be so high,” Megan said, “I’m like, please don’t fall.”

Maddie will tell you that her younger sister is the true star in their family. She began wheelchair racing last year as a member of the eighth-grade team and posted times in the 100 and 400 that would have qualified for the high school state meet in Columbus.

She’s already nailed down spots in both races at this year’s state meet in two weeks.

“It’s super exciting as her sister to see her progress and really enjoy track,” Maddie said. “The amount of work she puts into it and how much she motivates me is crazy.”

Megan said she began competing in her racing chair because her family is full of athletes. And she likes being part of the varsity team because she gets to tease her sister … “a little bit.”

Otherwise, she’s found that it’s mostly business with the girls. And they’ve found it’s mostly business with her.

“I could never do what she does,” Lily Wolfe said. “She pushes herself a lot. She has so much arm strength and she’s gotten so much faster. To see her progress is very cool, very inspirational to me.”

In the OCC meet, Megan completed the 100 in 32.31 and the 400 in 2:19.87.

In her heat of the 400, the non-disabled runners from Mount Vernon and Ashland could have taken off and battled to see who could get to the finish line first. Instead, they ran alongside Megan the whole way.

“The girls from the other teams in my heat were very motivating,” Megan said. “They told me not to slow down.”

That was a special moment for everyone in attendance.

“Those girls were running with her, encouraging her,” Smith said. “She PR-ed by 12 seconds. That was huge. What those girls did was amazing. I owe their coaches a huge thank you.”

Megan was born with spina bifida, where the spine and spinal cord don’t form properly. To do what she’s doing on the oval requires a good amount of upper body strength to push the hand-driven wheels.

Megan is on the track daily, working with her personal coach, Jennifer Wells. The biggest challenge is negotiating the curves because no mechanical gears or levers can be used on her racing chair.

“She’s had some really good times,” Sarah Thomas said. “Seeing her at practice working hard, we’re just so proud of her. It’s nice to see somebody else put in the time and effort to achieve their goals.”

For the reigning OCC champs, that’s what true sisterhood is all about.

This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Four sets of sisters create family for Lexington Ohio girls track team