Montoya Ends Career With A Record

ROGERS —Maggie Montoya ended a remarkable track and cross country career at Rogers High with a bang.

Montoya won 17 state championships in four years in the Lady Mounties program. Nine of the titles came in outdoor track, six in indoor competitions and two were individual cross country championships.

But the senior still had one goal left at the Meet of Champs earlier this month, and that was beating the 1,600-meter state record of 4 minutes, 57.98 seconds. State records can only be set at a state meet or the Meet of Champs.

During the regular season, Montoya twice posted times of 4:52, and she ran a 4:56 at the 7A/6A-West Conference Track Meet.

In wet and windy conditions at the Class 7A State Meet, Montoya was 17 seconds off the record while winning the event in 5:14.39, which was still the best time of any of the state champions in the seven different classifications.

But at the Meet of Champions, she found enough down the stretch to post a winning time of 4:57.57 to barely set the new mark, which was held by current Arkansas distance runner Grace Heymsfield of Elkins.

For her accomplishments, Montoya was named the All-NWA Media Girls Runner of the Year. She has signed to run track with Baylor, but her high school resume includes winning the Class 7A 3,200-meter run, the 1,600-meter run and the 800-meter run championships as a junior and senior.

“Maggie is the whole package,” Lady Mounties coach Becky Efurd said. “She has a good attitude, a good work ethic, humility and talent. I don’t know of anybody that has won three distance state championships two years in a row. That is just unheard of.

“It is sad losing her, but good for Baylor.”

Montoya said being unable to set the record at the state meet was added pressure at the Meet of Champs.

“I knew I only had one more chance, and I just had to work with it,” Montoya said. “I didn’t run the smartest race at the Meet of Champs. I started out too fast. I didn’t feel good that entire race.”

Montoya knew going into the final lap of the 1,600 that she had a lot of work left to break the record.

“I knew I had to book it in if I wanted to get it,” Montoya said. “The last 100 yards was difficult, but I knew I had to push it.”

Efurd said he knew before the 1,600 at the state meet that Montoya had little chance of setting a new state record, but Efurd was confident the senior would get the job done in her final chance.

“The weather was so bad at the state meet, and she wanted to do it that day,” Efurd said. “After the second lap, I put my hand across my throat, saying, ‘Don’t even try it.’ The wind was too strong. But she finally got it at the Meet of Champs. I knew she would get that record.”