It’s not possible to be the winner of a track & field relay race unless every member of the team runs a good leg and every handoff is clean.
That’s just the formula Chambersburg’s girls 4 x 400 relay team, Tammy McClanahan, JuliAnn Hopkins, Beth Muehl and Rebecca Davis, used to capture a gold medal at the PIAA Championships in the spring of 1990.
After the first three legs of the relay race, the Trojans were not in first place, so that left it up to Davis, in the anchor spot, to work some magic.
Still chasing down Cheltenham halfway through the final lap, Davis turned on the jets.
McClanahan said, “Watching Becky pulling ahead from behind is something I will never forget.”
“Running the anchor and rounding the final turn to the straightaway … it was all surreal,” Davis said. “We were always taught the importance of team, and we couldn’t have done it without each other.”
Chambersburg finished with a time of 3:57.24, while Cheltenham was second in 3:58.12. That winning time is still the school record.
The previous fall, Muehl, Hopkins and McClanahan were members of the PIAA girls cross country championship team, so they had a lot of experience in a pressure situation.
In addition to the 4 x 400 victory at states, McClanahan placed fourth in the 300 hurdles in a school record time of 45.06 that still stands today. McClanahan and Muehl also teamed up with Aundrea Helman and Sharon Wenger to take fifth place in the 4 x 800 relay.
Hopkins competed in track at the University of Maryland and became a physical therapist.
Davis, who said, “I believe my years of track (at Chambersburg) literally saved my life,” went on to earn three degrees and got into coaching her kids’ teams in basketball, soccer and cheer.
Muehl went to Bucknell University, specializing in the 400, 400 hurdles and 800. She became a cross country and track coach at Northwest H.S. in Montgomery County, Md. for 13 years and her team won a state title in 2011.
McClanahan had a fine career at Shippensburg University. She was a 9-time medalist in the PSAC Championships, winning the 400 hurdles once and running on two winning 4 x 400 teams. She was the Shippensburg MVP in 1993 and 1994 and was the PSAC’s Outstanding Female Athlete in 1994. She also went into coaching.
Muehl said, “(Relays) coach John Ambrosio taught us how to be a team – supporting each other through workouts and races and off the track.”
“I was extremely proud to represent CASHS in my athletics and other school activities,” Hopkins said. “I had great leaders who taught me to be humble, yet confident, in who I was and what I could achieve as an athlete and a person.”
By Ed Gotwals
