Junior Claire Pantuck, sophomore Sophie Meisner, senior Linnea Caldwell, and freshman Dahae Meserole make up the record-breaking girls 4×800-meter relay team. They not only broke their indoor-season record with a time of 9:19, they just returned from Penn Relays and broke the outdoor school record from 1995 running a 9:23.27.
The school’s outdoor record was previously set by Micheline Diakite, Elizabeth Codjoe, Milen Berhane and Jackie Ferrand with a time of 9:24.37 from the 1995 state outdoor track season. The 4×800 team of Pantuck, Meisner, Caldwell and Meserole finished 6th in their heat and 20th overall at Penn Relays.
The girls 4×800 exploded in the winter regional meet, running a 9:19 and breaking the school record from 1994. The former school record of 9:41 was held by Ferrand, Codjoe, Berhane, and Diakite.
“Nobody was expecting us to do anything, and we beat West Springfield and beat Robinson,” said ACHS Head Distance Coach and coach of the 4×800 team Robert Callahan.
At the Virginia State meet on March 2nd, the girls 4×800 team ran a 9:13 and finished in fifth, making themselves an all-state team and breaking the school record again. The 4×800 team went into nationals ranked eighth in the country and 12th with clubs included.
The girls 4×800 team are not the only Titans on the track team who broke records during the 2025-2026 indoor season.The girls 4×400-meter relay team which consists of Pantuck, Meisner, senior Lucy Keen, and freshman Alissa Grutza. The team qualified for regionals in their first race. The relay team competed at the New Balance Nationals and are in the top 100 in the country and top 15 in Virginia for the girls 4×400 team.
Pantuck won Athlete of the Month, broke the school 4×800-meter record, the school 500-meter record, and was the first leg in the girls 4×400 relay team. Pantuck placed seventh in the 500-meter at the state meet. Pantuck also competed in the New Balance Nationals in the 500-meter run, 4×400, and 4×800 events. Pantuck fell sick only two days before nationals but was still able to run the 4×800, 400-meter, and 4×400. The team broke the school 4×400 record despite Pantuck’s illness.
Pantuck said “I have my eye on some of the outdoor records too.” She also wants to break her personal record in the 400-meter this outdoor season. Pantuck additionally said “I’ve gotten really lucky and seen so many talented people join the team the years I’ve been here.”
Meisner, who was a member of the record breaking 4×800 and 4×400 relay teams, also broke the 1000-meter school record (2:56.92). She has been running track and field for four to five years and has been running distance for two and a half years. Her main events are the 800-meter and 1600-meter. In the 800-meter, she runs a 2:15 and in the 1600-meter, she runs a 5:08.
Meisner competed at the New Balance Nationals in the 1000-meter along with the 4×400 and 4×800-meter relay. At nationals, Meisner broke the 800-meter school record and the 4×400 record. For her future seasons, she wants to focus on lowering her times in longer distance events.
When asked about Meisner and Pantuck, track head coach Adam Alderton said, “It is no coincidence that [the 4×400 and 4×800 relay teams] are successful with the two of them.”
Grutza is the freshman leg of the 4×400 team. She has been running track since elementary school and joined ACHS track and field last year as an eighth grader. Grutza said that her team “never made me feel like a freshman, they made me feel like I belonged on the team and that I was there for a reason.” In the outdoor season, Grutza has a goal to qualify for the freshman 400-meter at New Balance Nationals.
Senior member of the ACHS track and field team and third leg of the girls 4×400 team Lucy Keen has been running since elementary school, and said she has always “felt connected” to track and field. Keen’s main event is the 400-meter and she has a personal record of 60 seconds flat and a split relay time of 59 seconds. Keen competed in the 4×400 at nationals and said “I’m so grateful I had the chance to be part of such a special group and share that moment with them.” She also said “this season has truly been my best yet.”
Alderton has been coaching track and field for 18 years, and six at ACHS. Alderton won the Coach of the Year award in the 2025-2026 winter sports season. When asked how this achievement felt, he said, “the best coaches have the best athletes.”
Alderton’s training for the girls 4×400 team consists of a high intensity workout, typically on Monday. The rest of the week consists of less volume and higher intensity workouts, along with speed and velocity workouts. He also said he focuses on using breathing as a key technique to get the girls on the team in the right mindset before their races.
Robert Callahan has been coaching track at ACHS for four years. Callahan started a track program when he lived in Lima, Peru. He coached the track program in Lima until he later moved to Berlin and coached track and field.
Callahan’s training for the team consisted of high intensity workouts that increased throughout the season. This indoor season, Callahan used a quote from a song called “Amazing” by French electro pop band La Femme to motivate them: “strong without fear.” Later in the season the team developed a new mantra called “Eat it up!” that Coach Callahan would yell when the girls were on their last lap of the relay race.
With daily practices on the track and in the weight room with coaches that push them to their max, Pantuck thinks the hard work paid off. “Track is a lot, but the hard work and commitment is definitely worth it in the end.”
