Sawdy continues winning ways as Patton girls shine at state meet

Although the 2026 Winter Olympics will come to an end this weekend, a local runner has already collected three gold medals during the 2025-26 school year as she prepares for the outdoor track and field season to begin next month.

Patton sophomore Elise Sawdy recently finished first in both the girls 1600 meters and 3200 meters during the North Carolina High School Athletic Association 3A indoor track state championship meet, which was held at JDL Fast Track in Winston-Salem on Feb. 11. She posted a time of 5:09.75 in the 1600 to go with a time of 11:43.52 in the 3200.

The only competitor at the indoor meet to finish first in two individual events, Sawdy also previously topped the field during the 3A cross country state championship meet at the Ivey Redmon Sports Complex in Kernersville back on Oct. 31, running the race in 19:04.92.

“I was not expecting that for either of them because last year I was not anywhere close to doing that, and then that happened this year, so it’s definitely more of a surprise,” said Sawdy, who qualified for state in cross country, indoor track, and outdoor track as a freshman. Her initial state appearances included a pair of fourth-place finishes (1600 indoor, 3200 outdoor), a fifth-place finish (3200 indoor), a seventh-place finish (1600 outdoor), and a 21st-place finish (cross country).

“I think I’ve improved a lot since last year,” noted Sawdy. “I feel like I’m more confident racing and I have a better race plan and build up to it better, especially because it’s not my first time doing all that stuff.”

But Sawdy wasn’t the only member of Patton’s girls team, which finished sixth out of 28 squads, to find success at the indoor state meet. Four others also contributed to the Lady Panthers’ strong performance.

“To only have five girls at state and finish sixth was amazing,” Patton indoor track coach Whitney Collins said. “I have been so impressed with the gains these girls have made in just two seasons. They’re out here running the program and growing and growing, and I know they’ll continue to improve, and hopefully continue into outdoor track and the next few years.”

In other events on Feb. 11, senior Layla McGuire came in third in the 1000 meters (3:19.53) and teamed with sophomore Nora Wykle and freshmen Julia Niehoff and Anna Aiken to finish fourth in the 4x800-meter relay (11:26.85). Wykle and Niehoff also posted top-10 finishes in the 3200 and 1600, respectively, with Wykle recording a seventh-place time of 13:15.06 and Niehoff recording a ninth-place time of 6:15.03.

“I was definitely very happy because I’ve never even ran at states for indoor until this year,” said McGuire. “So to even be qualified and then placing third, I didn’t really think that was gonna happen, so I was very happy at the end of the day.”

“I just thought of it as a normal meet, and I think that helped keep my nerves down,” added Wykle, who also made her indoor state debut. “When I stepped on the starting line and realized this was actually the top runners in the state for 3A, it was very nerve-racking, but then once I finally started the race and I got my place, I calmed down and it went well.”

The aforementioned quintet also led the way for the Lady Panthers as they finished fifth out of 16 teams during the cross country state meet this past fall. In addition to Sawdy’s gold medal-winning time, Patton also received a 17th-place finish from McGuire (21:33.25), a 35th-place finish from Wykle (22:34.52), a 42nd-place finish from Niehoff (23:02.27), and a 58th-place finish from Aiken (23:44.09).

Now Collins is looking forward to the outdoor season, when she will coach the girls and Carl Schikowsky — who is also Patton’s cross country coach — will coach the boys.

“This is going to be a bigger team than last year from the interest I’ve gotten back, so I’m excited to continue developing our distance program and build our sprints and field events program,” said Collins. “We have a lot of diversity in our runners for their running and field events, so hopefully all the runners will have the same drive and motivation as our distance girls and achieve great things. … I know these athletes and this team can achieve great things, and I’m excited to be a part of it.”

Sawdy is again expected to be a standout this spring as she looks to add to her list of growing accolades.

“Elise is unreal,” said Collins. “Her intrinsic motivation and drive is just unbelievable. Come rain, shine, sleet, snow, anything, she’s sticking with it and making sure to get her runs in. Consistency is key, and she takes that to heart.”

“I feel like if I put in the work and the effort now, it’ll all hopefully pay off later,” added Sawdy, who acknowledged that she is hoping to continue her track career at the college level.

Wykle and McGuire enjoy being Sawdy’s teammates, and the example she provides helps motivate them as well.

“Every time we’re doing track workouts, she’s always giving 100%, and it’s just really cool to be on a team with a three-time state champion,” said Wykle, while McGuire stated that “I feel like she never has any excuses for not doing a run, and if she needs to do it, she’s gonna do it and make it happen.”

When all is said and done, while winning is certainly fun, the most important thing is having fun and building relationships.

“It’s kind of like a stress reliever to go and just run as hard as you can,” said Wykle. “And I feel like it’s very rewarding. I know it’s like a team sport because you’re getting points, but I feel like it’s also very individual, and I think it’s cool to have that.”

“It’s kind of like an escape from reality,” added McGuire. “Like if you’re hurting because of something going on in your life, now you’re hurting while running, so it kind of makes you think about something else. And you kind of bond with each other because you’re going through the exact same thing, so you just get really close and the friendships you make during track are pretty strong.”