TROY – Covington freshman Elyza Long punched her ticket to the state track meet by taking fourth place in the 3200 meter run in the regional meet on Friday at Troy High School.
It is Long’s second opportunity the state level in her young career as she was a state qualifier in Cross Country this past fall.
The path Elyza took throughout the post season was full of adversity as she battled an illness during the district meet a week ago. Fortunately Long was able to advance to regionals with a time of 12:45.43, which was good for fourth place where Lauren Moore of Fort Loramie won the race in a time of 12:10.20.
On Friday, the final spot for state came down between Long and Moore in the home stretch. Long was able to edge Moore by .01 of a second to advance to state. She finished in a time of 11:46.07, nearly one minute faster than her time a week ago at districts.