‘A dream come true’ for Haggarty, Burlingame 4x400 relay team

That left Haggarty with one last chance to reach the state meet in running the anchor leg of the girls’ 4x400 relay. And what she didn’t accomplish in her individual 400, she left it all on the track in her final lap around the track of the day as Burlingame pulled off a stunner, taking second place with a time of 3:57.17, setting a new program record.

“For Cora ... it was first not making it individually,” Burlingame head coach Chris Coleman said of Haggarty’s blues after the individual 400. “But when you focus on the team aspect and let go of the expectations and thinking about times … great things happen. And that’s exactly what happened.”

Teaming with Avah Reichow, Stella Newman and Elizabeth Carroll, Haggarty brought home the historic run with a monumental lap. The senior took the baton in fifth place, right where the Panthers expected to be after turning in just the fifth-best 4x400 time at the CCS trials.

Seemingly through sheer force of will, however, Haggarty had plenty to say about that.

“I’ve been trying to go to states for four years, so I just was like: ‘This is my last opportunity,’” Haggarty said.

Using her tall frame and statuesque long runner’s legs, Haggarty quickly chased down three runners on the first straightaway. If a fade was expected, it never came. Just the opposite. Unlike her earlier race, Haggarty looked energized down the final stretch, and was all smiles as she glided across the finish line.

“I didn’t want finish the race thinking that I had something left to give,” Haggarty said.

Haggarty wasn’t the only one frustrated with her earlier performance. Reichow missed the state cut as well, settling for fifth place in the girls’ 300 hurdles with a time of 44.68. Unlike Haggarty, however, Reichow has reached the state meet before, after her third-place performance in the 300 hurdles last season at CCS.

There were some residual frustrations in the 4x400 relay as well, stemming from last year’s fourth-place finish in the event. Not only that, Burlingame missed the state at-large qualifying standard by 1 1/2 seconds, and fell short of the school record by two seconds in 2023.

“So there’s some carryover from last year,” Coleman said.

This year, Haggarty, as part of Burlingame’s fabulous 4x400 foursome, took care of business on both counts.

“It’s literally a dream come true,” Haggarty said.

Haggarty now shares in two Burlingame records. Her PR in the 400 of 56.75 from last year’s CCS finals stands as the program record. She also ranks second in the 200 and third in the 800.

One other Burlingame program record fell Saturday, with junior Victoria Kolmsee taking seventh place in the girls’ 3200 with a time of 11:03.56. The previous record was held by Katie Voigtlander, who ran it in 11:05 in 2006.

Kolmsee’s effort was a shocker as this is the first season the exchange student has run the event.

“She was thrilled actually, and we were as well,” Coleman said. “Breaking the school record was something we hadn’t planned on.”