Sierra Oliveira won a state title in the 800-meter run on Friday at the FHSAA track and field championships at IMG Academy in Bradenton.
Sierra Oliveira didn’t care about setting a personal record on Friday, nor did she put much thought into running the perfect race.
After two straight second-place performances in the 800-meter run as a sixth and seventh grader, the Evangelical Christian School eighth-grader simply wanted to win a championship of her own at the FHSAA track and field championships at IMG Academy in Bradenton.
She did just that, outkicking Calvary Christian’s Hannah Brookover in the final 200 to win the Class A race in 2:15.51.
“If girls start out too fast, I stay my own pace and I just have to really rely on my own sense, if you think they’re going to fall back or if you think they’re actually fast enough to go,” she said. “So basically I run my own race.”
Oliveira didn’t bite early, running steady over the beginning quarter lap. She ran her first 400 meters in 68 seconds, appearing right at comfort level.
“This week she had to slow it down and run a more tactical race,” Evangelical Christian School distance coach Wes Penberthy said. “The initial strategy for her was to do the same thing, to go out hard, but then we got here and with the wind, we changed it up 20 minutes before the race. She executed it well.”
With 300 meters to go, Oliveira began to set up her mark. She took over at the curve and surged over Brookover with 50 meters left.
“We run 200s all year,” Penberthy said. “Where we’re at in the year depends on how we run it. Sometimes it’s more rest and little faster and sometimes it’s a little higher volume. Last couple weeks we’ve been picking it up a little bit, so going through the 200 didn’t feel fast for her, because she’s been doing 30s and 31s the last few weeks tuning it up for it.”
Oliveira overcame wind in the backstretch to win, though she was off her personal record of 2:14.90 by a few hundredths of a second.
“My original plan was to get a personal record,” Oliveira said. “But when that didn’t happen, I really wanted a state championship.”