FAYETTEVILLE — Carly Page heard the roars from Fayetteville track long distance coach Michelle Fyfe as she neared the final 70 meters at the Arkansas High School state indoor championships.
As the Fayetteville senior was churning out the final stretch in her 3,200-meter run, Page kicked her performance into one final extra gear and finished off a win she had waited quite some time to achieve.
“Winning at indoor (state) felt incredible,” Page said. “I’ve been running for four years now so finally winning individually and not just on a relay at state, it felt like all my hard work paid off and my commitment really paid off.”
In this same race as a freshman, Page wasn’t even able to complete the race. Pulled off the track after being lapped by the field, her win in a time of 11 minutes, 52.58 seconds to cap off the indoor season heading into a promising outdoor campaign shows just how far she has come.
“She went from being ‘Little Bit’ my little tiny kid, to my big leader,” Fyfe said. “I don’t even call her Little Bit any more because she’s become such a leader and all the other kids look up to her. And I’m so impressed with how she’s grown as a person and as an athlete.”
Once a promising runner who was looking up to the stronger, faster teammates in front of her, Page has now ascended to the top of the heap at Fayetteville. And along the way she’s accomplished plenty to help build the Lady’Dogs’ distance team into a strong force heading into outdoors.
As a junior, she was vital in Fayetteville’s Class 7A state cross country championship. Last outdoor season, she placed third overall in the 3200 at the state meet with a time of 11:43.89, and ran one leg of a strong 4x800 relay. Now in her final season, she looks forward to helping the Lady Bulldogs make a push at their first outdoor state track championship since 2011.
“When we get all of our sprinters back on the team, we’ll have a really good chance,” Page said. “We didn’t have everybody there at indoors but when we get everybody back from basketball we’ll have a really strong team.”
Fayetteville returns plenty of talent throughout the girls’ lineup, with all-state sprinters Jameisha (Pink) and Janeisha (Blu) Jones, Emily Yurwitz, Carli Moreland and DaShundra Morgan back from last season. Senior high jumper Olivia Thomas also is back as a defending state champ. But for the Lady Bulldogs to have a chance at the title, Page knows the distance runners will have to do their fair share.
As the leader of the pack, she’s ready. And with a recent win under her belt, she’s more confident than ever.
“This definitely changes my season goals,” Page said. “My outdoor goal is to beat the school record in the twomile and winning just makes me want to work harder and believe in myself even more.”
Carly Page
SCHOOL Fayetteville CLASS Senior EVENTS 3,200-meter, 1,600-meter, 800-meter, 4x800 meter NOTABLE Won individual 3,200-meter state title title at Class 7A/6A state indoor meet with time of 11:52.58. … Finished third overall at state outdoor meet in 3,200 with time of 11:43.89. … Helped lead Fayetteville to Class 7A state championship in cross country during junior season.
Vernon Tarver can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @NWAVernon