Elizabeth “Lizzy” Schmidt '21 Recruiting Profile

My sophomore year of track really shaped me into the runner I am today. I came into the season prepared and excited to run. I started out the year strong and half way through my season my teammates and I made it to the Hamline Elite Meet. I qualified in the 400 and 4x400. I ran the 400 and ended up getting 5th place and ran a 58.54 which was within half a second of my pr and I was only half way through my season. After my race it was time to run the 4x400. I ran anchor leg, we ended up getting first and I ran a split time of about 57.8. This was one of the best races of my life because I ran my fastest split time ever and our team who is from a small school beat out all the bigger schools in our state. After this meet I was so excited to keep working hard and to see how much we all could improve over the next month. This dream was soon cut short. Over the course of the season I was dealing with a small foot injury but I really thought nothing of it because it had not affected me at all. All of a sudden my injury flared up really bad at our conference meet and I physically could not run and I could barely walk without help. Turns out I was dealing with tendinitis on the top of my foot for most of the season but it flared up really bad at our conference meet. This was very tough on me because I had made it to state every year since 7th grade and the year when I had so many hopes and dreams for the end of the season I got injured and I never knew what was in store for me. Originally I thought my foot would get better and I could run at the end of the season. I wasn't able to run again until the day of state finals. My teammates had really stepped up and they ended up making it to state in the 4x400. I was lucky enough to have great teammates who gave me the chance to run one last 4x400 with them that season. I was so terrified to run again because I had not ran for 3 weeks. I ended up finishing the race and we got 3rd place. This was very tough on me because I was the anchor leg and I wanted us to win so bad. After state which was in the beginning of June, I took a break from running and sports until the middle of July. Not being able to run for this long made me realize how much I love to run and how you can never take things for granted. Every since my injury I have been more determined to work harder everyday and not take any race for granted and to always give my all because you never know what will happen in the future.