Murray corrals 100, 200

Freshman Cachet Murray of Girard High won two state titles to duplicate hermother's feat of 1980.
By BRIAN RICHESSON
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
DAYTON -- Cachet Murray's track season has come to an end. Next year, her name won't be unfamiliar to anyone.
The Girard High freshman capped her season by winning Division II state titles in the 100- and 200-meter dashes Saturday at Welcome Stadium.
After Murray completed her sweep, running times of 12.35 and 25.09 seconds, respectively, she felt relief and quickly looked forward to her summer off.
"I'm so happy that track season is over," Murray said. "I'm finally out of school. I'm free at last."
In the past two days, Murray ran as if she were free -- and nobody was going to catch her. On her way to the finals, she broke the state record in the 200 (24.30).
"I didn't even know I did that," Murray said of her record, which came in Friday's semifinals. "That's at the top [of my accomplishments]."
Mother had won both, too
Murray, whose mother, Terry Murray, won the same state titles for Girard in 1980, was joined in the sprints by friend Jessica White, a junior from Liberty.
Before they ran side by side in the 100, Murray and White embraced, sharing a moment and a prayer.
"I told her before the race that no one is going to beat either one of us," Murray said.
That nearly came true. White placed third in the 100 (49.43) and 200 (1:44.89) in her third straight year at the state meet.
"I want to do better than this year," White said of her upcoming senior season, "because it will be my last."
Liberty relay wins title
White found a state championship on Liberty's 4x200 relay, which triumphed in 1:44.22. Preceding anchor White in the lineup were Jasmine Smith, Brittny Humphrey and Whitney Spence.
"I just wanted to finish and get that gold medal," White said. "I wanted to be on top."
Humphrey said, "We were boasting about it, but we knew we had enough confidence that we could do this."
Liberty's relay came together in the district, when Spence stepped into a vacant role and helped lead the team to state.
"It's exciting because we're going to be here [at state] for a while," Smith said.
Mooney relay seventh
Cardinal Mooney's 4x200 relay of Gina Ortiz, Jenna Polkovitch, Anna Novosel and Lori Patrone placed seventh (1:46.29).
Murray, meanwhile, was planning on winning a third state title in the 4x100 relay, which she anchored. But that didn't happen as Girard placed fourth (49.86) behind Liberty (49.43). Granville won the event in 49.16 and Ottawa-Glandorf was second in 49.39.
"Our one goal was to beat Girard. They beat us once and they thought they could do it again," said Liberty's Ami Markowitz of the rival Indians. "This is the one [meet] that matters."
The addition of Markowitz to the 4x100 relay, replacing Spence, was the only difference from Liberty's 4x200 relay.
Running the 4x100 relay for Girard were Stephanie Scarnecchia, Erin Walters, Jenny Sopkovich and Murray.
"We didn't run our best. If we would have run our best, I think we would have gotten first," Sopkovich said. "We really wanted to get in the top three. Losing to Liberty upset us."
richesson@vindy.com