ALL-NWADG GIRLS RUNNER OF THE YEAR: AMANDA DILLON, SPRINGDALE HAR-BER

All-NWADG Track: Dillon battles through setbacks

Amanda Dillon, Springdale Har-Ber; girls track runner of the year.
Amanda Dillon, Springdale Har-Ber; girls track runner of the year.

SPRINGDALE -- Amanda Dillon's track season didn't turn out the way she expected.

The Springdale Har-Ber senior sprinter had hopes of setting records, particularly the 400-meter dash marks that barely eluded her last year. Instead, she had to overcome obstacles shortly after she signed a national letter of intent with Baylor in November.

"I didn't plan for that at all," Dillon said. "But sometimes things happen that are out of your control, and you have to make the best of every situation.

"It was hard. It was the hardest year I've ever had. It was hard not to get down about it. It was like one failure after another."

Dillon found out she was born without a notch that keeps her kneecap in place, and it eventually led to surgery in January when the pain became unbearable. She wasn't medically cleared to run at full speed until April, then she ran the 400 in 56.37 seconds and the 800 in 2 minutes, 13:25 seconds -- both state-best times this season -- at the John McDonnell Invitational two days later.

Things looked promising until the 7A-West Conference meet on April 30 in Bentonville, when she had the lead through most of the 400. However, she became exhausted and eventually finished second, which led to one more discovery.

"Apparently, my body decided to become anemic," Dillon said. "I didn't know it, and I had really low iron. The whole week during conference, I struggled with it and didn't know what was causing my weakness.

"After conference, I started taking iron, and I noticed a huge difference."

Dillon was more like herself at the Class 7A state meet, when she won the 800 and turned in a 55.75-second split during her leg of the 4x400 relay. She took her improvement a step further a week later at the Meet of Champs in Russellville, when she ran the 800 in a personal-best 2:12.63.

"I just had to keep getting up and telling myself that this time might have not gone well, but the next one will be better," Dillon said. "For the most part, that was true. Every time I failed, the next time I was a little better."

Sports on 06/09/2015

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