NL's Landis caps legendary career with bronze medal

DAYTON — Reese Landis led the state championship two-mile with a lap to go. The New London senior had to settle for third, coming oh so close to completing a glorious eight laps around the Welcome Stadium track on Friday night in Dayton at the D-III finals. "Obviously, the goal is always to win," Landis said. "That was definitely in grasp. Today just wasn't quite that day. I was really close. I just need to work on my kick a little bit." This still marked a stellar finish to Landis' standout Wildcats career. She was seventh as a sophomore at state, but things went awry as a junior. On the fifth lap of last season's state meet, Landis fainted. "It just feels so good to finish this race this year," Landis said. "Last year, I woke up in an ice bath." This time around, Landis shone. Rocking a lime green uniform, she spent the first couple laps in some traffic before slowly taking the race out. "Didn't fall during this race, I usually fall during my races at the state meet," Landis said. "... Everything doesn't have to go as planned, and I can still show up and give my best and it pays off." Landis kept her pace almost the whole way. Lurking a decent chunk behind, though, was Maplewood's Caleigh Richards, who had won the 3200 meters as both a freshman and a junior. And on the final lap, Richards made up the gap. So too did Smithville's Kaitlynn Carr, who passed Landis right at the line. "Those girls deserved it, they crushed it," Landis said. "They went 1-2 in the mile today. Kudos to them, because that's insane." Landis ran the best time she ever had in OHSAA competition, with only her outdoor nationals time from last spring being better. She did it in her final state race for New London, at the end of a career that had seen her win so many races. The senior couldn't quite win this one, but she had certainly stood out on the biggest stage. "I'm glad to have finished my senior season here in third," Landis said. "A 10:50, that's great… I'm very proud of what I've done."