Saylor doesn't take state opportunities for granted

CASTALIA — Olivia Saylor has been to state every year of her high school career. But even with two relay state championships and a heavy neck's worth of All-Ohio medals, the feeling of returning never gets old. "Every single time I'm there, I get chills," Saylor said. "I get the nerves running through my body. I always have the biggest smile on my face showing up." This will be Saylor's last time running on the final week of the high school track season for Margaretta. She'll compete in the Division III 400 meters, along with the 4x200 and 4x400 relays, at Welcome Stadium in Dayton. In all three, the Polar Bears have a great chance of getting on the podium with a top-eight finish. "It feels good having the opportunity to go back to state after three years of already being there," Saylor said. "... It's so nerve-wracking, even being a senior. You're going against the best people in the state. It's so competitive. Everyone is there to win." Saylor's running career won't conclude in high school. She's heading to NCAA Division II powerhouse Ashland University to compete on the track team while studying sports management. "I grew here," Saylor said of her time at Margaretta. "Doing track, you grow as a person. It's just gonna be sad leaving. I'm also excited for my new chapters." For a long time, Saylor figured she would end up playing college volleyball. The talented 5-foot-11 hitter certainly made her mark in that sport at Margaretta, too. On the track, Saylor has been at the center of Polar Bears winning since she started high school. As a freshman and sophomore, she ran on the repeat state champion 4x100-meter relay, along with current senior Macyn Phillips and the since-graduated Jana Berg and Kenna Stimmel. Last spring, Saylor was seventh in the 400, sixth in the 4x200 and eighth in the 4x400. "This being my last year, I want to do better," Saylor said. "I just feel more competitive going into every practice. My mindset is completely different. I get more and more anxious to want to win and want to run. I want to do good for my team." Saylor's running talent might be summed up this way — she's got the second-fastest time in the state this season in an event, the 800, she won't even compete in this weekend. At the Erie County meet, Saylor took the night off in the 400 and ran the 800 right on the tail of Huron's Jadyn Towns to a 2:14 finish. Chasing both races to state was next to impossible. There's only about a 20-minute break between them during meets. Saylor made it to regional in both, but after the earlier 400, had no gas left for the 800. "You have to really train and be all in it for those two," Saylor said. "The 20-minute break in between, I was like, wow. Those two are the hardest. My coaches wanted me to focus on the 400, didn't have any expectations for the 800. I still wanted to try, and then I got out there and was in last. I think I scared people, to be honest." Saylor is just about optimal for the 400, anyway. She's got the required mix of sprint speed and stamina — years of running on the sprint relays combined with cross country endurance. She's been the Margaretta record holder in that race for more than a year, having broken the mark initially at the 2023 SBC meet. Saylor lowered it below 58 for the first time by running in 57.77 seconds at this season's league meet. "I did not feel like I ran fast at all," Saylor said. "... (Coach Bill Minshall) showed me my 57 and I was jumping in the air, I was screaming, the officials were yelling at me. It was really exciting." For Saylor, the 400 is heavily mental. The elite runners essentially sprint the entire way. Saylor hasn't always had the same strategy in the race, often opting early in her career for slow starts and long-striding finishes. But she knows in an elite field at this final state meet, there's no choosing one or the other. It has to be both. "A lot of the girls that run this race, their first 200 is an all-out sprint and they hold it," Saylor said. "I need to be doing that. And the final 50 stretch, you just have to have a push to go if you want to be at all successful." Saylor has an added advantage — coming around the final turn, her cheering group is usually the loudest in attendance. "The cowbell that my grandpa rings all the time, my mom up there screaming so loud," Saylor said. "Everybody from the town just going crazy, everyone cheering or excited. Even when I watch other people run, I look up and just see 30 green shirts in the same spot pumping their arms. Everyone is so supportive here." Based on regional times, Saylor is seeded seventh in the 400 heading into the state meet, although it's a tightly bunched group with no clear favorite. In the 4x200 with Alayna Biehl, Julia Berg, Saylor and Phillips, the Polar Bears come in with the third-fastest regional time. The 4x400 featuring Biehl, Berg, Lillian Belak and Saylor is also seeded third. Saylor has gone from the youngster trying to help the last generation of Margaretta stars get on the podium to a senior leader of a veteran group that knows what it takes to perform their best at the state meet. There are only a few laps left in Saylor's Polar Bears career. She plans to make the most of them. "I'm doing what I do best," Saylor said. "I get in my focus, and when the gun goes off, I'm just going. I don't think about anything else."