Records continue to fall for Lyric Ford.

The Montgomery County junior set a school-record mark in her victory in the 3,200 on April 5 at the Bowling Green Mini-Medal meet. She ran a time of 11 minutes, 42 seconds, breaking the old mark of 11:48.9 that was set by Ford’s teammate – sophomore Malia Rodgers – in last year’s Class 3 state meet.

“I was honestly shocked,” Ford said. “It was my first time running it. I had no idea what I was doing. Of course, I was asking Malia, (junior) Destiny (Shaw) and everybody else who has ran it before. I went around and asked them, ‘How do you run a two-mile?’ They told me to go fast at the start, go fast in the middle and go fast at the end. So I tried to keep that in mind as I ran the two-mile.”

Ford won the race by almost a minute over Centralia’s Gretchen Marriott. She also helped the 3,200-meter relay team – which included Rodgers, Gracie Cobb and Makenna Schmidt – pick up a victory. Her efforts helped the Wildcats finish third in the 13-team meet with 108.5 points.

Ford now holds the school-record mark in two events. A year ago, she ran a school-record time 5:20 in her third-place finish in the 1,600 in the Class 3 sectional meet at MCHS, qualifying her for the state meet. She came close to equaling that mark at the Holt Invitational on April 2 in Wentzville, running a 5:21.

“That drove me crazy knowing that I was one second off,” Ford said. “That was actually one of the pretty good times for the second meet of the season.”

Ford is also the Wildcats’ school record holder in cross country with a time of 18:57 she ran at the Gans Creek Classic in September. When she was in eighth grade at Montgomery County Middle School three years ago, Ford set school records in five events.

Ford said her main goal is to turn in a strong performance in every race she competes in.

“Records don’t really matter,” Ford said. “What really matters is trying to strive for personal excellence and accomplishing the goals that you set for yourself, not what some paper or chart says.”

So far after two weeks, Ford is enjoying an outstanding junior season. She has six first-place finishes, four of them came in the season-opening Montgomery County Early Invite on March 22. Ford won the 800 and 1,600 and was a member of the winning 4x400 and 4x800 relay teams.

Ford said she was looking forward to the track and field season since practices began on Feb. 28.

“I was very excited, especially after the three months of winter training,” the junior said. “I was stuck on the treadmill for the majority of the winter. With my training with my teammates, it added that extra bit of confidence. I’m definitely excited to get the season rolling.”

Ford had a superb sophomore season in 2021 that included 14 victories and a fifth-place finish in the 1,600 at the Class 3 state meet. She is one of four returning all-state medalists for the Wildcats’ girls track team this spring.