Jana Maharry doubled over – hands on her knees – after crossing the finish line.
The Waukee junior sucked in a few deep breaths before straightening up and hugging her competitors. She just won the Class 4A girls 400-meter hurdles title at the Iowa high school track and field state meet on Friday, May 22.
It was a milestone moment for Maharry — her first individual state championship.
Even with the win, though, she was more elated to just be running at all.
“It’s obviously been a hard race for me,” Maharry said when asked about her excitement after crossing the finish line. “I fell a couple times, hit the hurdle, and I just wanted it really bad. Seeing that I actually did it made me happy.”
That accomplishment is even more impressive, considering that Maharry first started competing in the 400-meter hurdles only after her sophomore year of high school.
She first tried the event as a freshman, but Maharry didn’t run the 400-meter dash at the time, and she struggled to blend the two skills.
The next season, she dealt with struggles much harder than combining a race around the track with several 30-inch-high obstacles. Between her freshman and sophomore seasons, Maharry underwent surgery to remove a cyst on her heart and lung.
“My breathing wasn’t the best,” she told the Des Moines Register. “They just didn’t want me to risk anything running a (400-meter race). So, I just had to wait until this year.”
Even after getting the all clear to come back, it wasn’t easy for Maharry to climb to the top of the standings – and stay there.
She went into Drake Relays last month with one of the top times in the state in the 400 hurdles, third behind Elise Coghlan from Adel-De Soto-Minburn and Muscatine’s Avery Bradley.
And Maharry looked solid during that race, until the final straightaway.
The Warriors junior clipped a hurdle on the last turn, and Maharry went down hard. She picked herself up and finished, still managing to leap the remaining hurdles and cross the finish line – albeit in last place. Her shoulders slumped and a dejected look was plastered to her face.
It isn’t easy to finish a race after crashing onto the track and watching every competitor pass by, but Maharry experienced much harder obstacles – a health scare and major surgery – and came out better on the other end.
Friday proved to be another one of those moments.
She continued to work on her times, improving to 1:00.47 at the state qualifying meet. And then she took it a step further, edging closer to the one-minute mark and claiming the title with a time of 1:00.11 – good enough to set a new state meet record and better than the next-closest finisher by over a second.
Her little victories turned into a massive win, and Maharry smiled wide while standing in the center of the winner’s podium.
The state title was always a goal, sure, but being here – running on the Blue Oval – would have been good enough.
“I’m honestly just thankful to even be here,” Maharry said. “I’ve always loved running. So, just being here, even if I wasn’t fully healthy again, I would still be happy to even be able to do what I love.”
Alyssa Hertel is the college sports recruiting reporter for the Des Moines Register. Contact Alyssa at ahertel@dmreg.com or on Twitter @AlyssaHertel.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Maharry overcomes obstacles, wins 400-meter hurdles state track title
Reporting by Alyssa Hertel, Des Moines Register / Des Moines Register
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