As Izabelle Trefts left the starting line of the girls’ 1,600-meter race walk at Saturday’s Class B outdoor track and field state championships, it was clear she was on a pace of her own.
Seconds after 17 other competitors settled into the first few lanes on the track at the Brewer Community School, the 15-year-old Old Town High School freshman already had created separation.
“The first few laps were pretty fast,” Trefts said. “I was just happy I could keep up that pace.”
Trefts not only maintained her early pace, but she also established a new Class B state record with her time of 7 minutes, 26.07 seconds — nearly a minute and a half ahead of her nearest competitor.
“My previous best time was 7:33,” she said. “I was not expecting to beat the state record by 10 seconds.”
Trefts’ time eclipsed the previous Class B state-meet standard of 7:36.32 set by Hannah Saunders of Caribou in 2009 and also topped the Class C standard of 7:27.96 set in 2006 by Lauren Forgues of Boothbay, who went on to compete in the 2012 U.S. Olympic Trials.
“It was the adrenaline mostly,” Trefts said. “I was really nervous before this race, so that probably helped.”
Fast times are nothing new for Trefts in the race walk, an event in which one foot must appear to be in contact with the ground at all times as assessed by race judges.
Trefts took up the event at age 7 and has been on the fast track ever since.
“My sister [Elizabeth] did it before me, and then my mom started coaching and taking us to a bunch of clinics,” Trefts said. “I liked it so I stuck with it.”
Trefts quickly thrived with the unique gait, winning numerous state and regional age-group titles through USATF Junior Olympics competition.
Then last summer Trefts became a national champion in her age group at 3,000 meters with a winning time of 17:28.45 during the USATF Youth National Outdoor Track & Field Championships held at the College of Brockport, State University of New York.
She posted indoor personal bests last winter in both the 1,500 (7:42.47) and mile (8:21.79) race walks during the New Balance Nationals at the New York Armory Track and Field Center.
Trefts built on that momentum in the outdoor 1,600 this spring, initially dropping her personal best for the distance to 7:33.69 during a May 8 meet at Victory Field in Old Town.
“My time at New Balance Nationals Indoor was around 8 minutes so I had already improved a lot,” Trefts said. “I wasn’t expecting to improve that much more this spring. I did not expect to break the [state] record at the beginning of the [outdoor] season.”
What could have made such improvement more challenging is the lack of local competition. Her time at this year’s state meet, for example, was 27 seconds faster than the winning times in both Class A and Class C.
“I mostly just race the clock,” Trefts said. “I normally have people take my 200 splits to tell me if I’m going on pace or too fast or too slow.”
Trefts also competes on Old Town’s swimming and cross-country teams, and said distance running aids her race-walking progress.
“The endurance I get from that really helps me get faster in race walk,” she said.
She’ll continue her race-walking training this summer, possibly with an eye toward returning to the USATF nationals.
“The majority of the year, even during the off season, I try to get in as much practice as I can so I can keep improving and not plateau,” she said.
