CHARLESTON -- Lia Patterson and Tuscola girls' track and field coach Drew Sterkel have been through a lot together over the last four years, but the moment they shared before Saturday's Class 1A 200-meter dash state final, Patterson's last race of her high school career, may have been their most heartfelt.
"We were both down on our knees, and he put his hand on my shoulder, looked at me and said 'Lia, kid, I need you one more time.'"
At that point, Patterson was exhausted. She had just finished the 300 hurdles, winning the event for the third year in a row, and she could barely stand as she made her way to the awards tent, even throwing up shortly after stepping off the podium. She was starting to doubt if she would even be able to run the 200.
"Coach just broke down in front of me," Patterson said. "I was like 'I have to do this for myself, my family and my team.' I'm a Christian, so right before I got in the blocks, I said 'God, just give me this last strength to finish this race.' That's honestly all I can say. He gave me the energy and allowed me to finish that race."
Patterson did more than finish. After qualifying sixth in the prelims, the Tuscola senior ran a season-best time of 24.95 seconds to place second and secure the Warriors a runner-up team trophy.
Along with her clutch 200 performance and 300 hurdles three-peat, Patterson also won her second consecutive 100 hurdles state title and anchored Tuscola's 800-meter relay to a third-place finish. That makes 20 state medals for her career, eight of them gold, to go along with four team trophies in four years.
"There are no words to describe the joy and happiness I feel right now," Patterson said. "Being here with my team, I can't see any other way I would have loved to end my career."
Though Patterson's success may have seemed like a no-brainer coming into her senior campaign, nothing came easy on Saturday.
Her first event was the 100 hurdles, and for the first time all season, she clipped a couple hurdles on her way to the finish line, allowing Peru St. Bede junior and good friend Lily Bosnich to challenge for her crown. Patterson won the race to the line, with her personal-best time of 14.39 seconds just four-hundredths of a second ahead of Bosnich.
Then came the relay, and by the time Kenna Clodfelder, Reese Davis and Rylie Vanausdoll had finished their legs, the Warriors did not look like they were going to be in a position to celebrate. Luckily for them, Patterson turned on the jets and passed half the field in the final stretch to steal a top-three finish.
The 300 hurdles didn't come as easy as everyone expected either. Patterson had her sights set on breaking Jenny Kimbro's 1A state meet record of 42.57 seconds from 2016, and her prelim time was almost two full seconds ahead of the entire field. Instead of that same kind of domination, Patterson again hit a hurdle as she turned onto the final straightaway, nearly falling and again letting Bosnich into the conversation. Patterson stayed upright and finished strong with a season-best time of 43.16 seconds to win by another fraction of a second.
Hard to tell for certain, but it sure felt like that record would have been hers had she run a clean race. Regardless, she earned herself the title of the 1A hurdle queen with her fifth state hurdles championship in the last three years.
"I love that," Patterson said with the biggest smile she'd sported all day. "It has a nice ring to it."
Finally, Patterson ran her spirited 200 to put a bow on an incredible season and career.
"I just wanted to come here and perform the best I could," Patterson said. "My hurdles coach, Gary Spezia, is in the hospital, and he's really sick. Just executing my 100 hurdles and 300 hurdles races was the No. 1 thing on my mind. He can't be here with me, so I really wanted to make him proud."
She did just that, and along with her teammates made the entire Tuscola community proud. Vanausdoll also took third place in the triple jump (36 feet, 9 ¾ inches), and Kate Foltz was third in the 3,200 (10 minutes, 46.79 seconds) to round out the Warriors' scoring, placing them just seven points off of El Paso-Gridley's winning pace.
This is now the fourth consecutive year Tuscola has brought home a state trophy. The Warriors won their first team state title in 2022 and followed it with a third-place finish and back-to-back runner-ups.
"A couple years ago, our quote of the year was 'Leaving a legacy,'" Sterkel said. "They really embraced that and actually made a T-shirt for us coaches that said 'Left a legacy.' They truly love each other, and they've put an emphasis on girls' track and field again. It was really big in the early '90s, and there's a buzz around town about girls' track. They're such a giant part of that.
"Hopefully, when we come back in 20 years and they're celebrated for all their accomplishments, they can really see the footprint they left for everybody else. Our middle school program has a whole bunch of girls, and they're a huge part of that. That's a really cool thing for them to do, and I don't think they even realize it yet."
Before the Warrior seniors even had time to think about that, they had to rush out of O'Brien Field to make it to Tuscola's graduation. They finally finished taking pictures on the track around 5:45 p.m. and were expected to be dressed and ready by 6:30 p.m. with a 30-plus-minute drive ahead of them. You do the math.
"We're just going to try to take in these last moments because it's the last time running with my team," Patterson said. "I'm going to go home, take a shower and get to graduation so I can walk and get my diploma. I don't know if we're supposed to, but I'm going to wear (my medals) under my gown. Why not? I just want to showcase how well I did."