Tatum David concludes the Herrin Girls' Invitational with the 4x400 baton in her hand. Photo by Rob David.
In 2018, Katelynne Hart of Glenbard West attended Distance Night in Palatine not as a competitor, but as a spectator.
She was able to relax, however, already having run the all-time Illinois 3200 record in 9:52.02 at the Sue Pariseau Invitational.
The record wasn't always necessarily in her plans, as the historic invitational at Glenbard West fell only two weeks after Hart geared up for one of the biggest early-season outdoor meets in the country.
"I honestly had no idea how this race was going to go," said Hart. "I didn't know how this was going to go after already having run Arcadia two weeks ago. I feel ok, but nothing special. Going out in 4:55, I even was thinking to myself 'Maybe I could break 10:00."
So then, what was the difference for Hart, who surpassed even her own expectations that day and surpassed Woodstock's Kayla Beattie's existing state record of 9:56.96 set on May 21, 2011, at state? Well, Hart was running at home, on her own track, in front of her own people.
"What really pushed me was the momentum I got from my teammates and the [home] crowd," recalls Hart. "All of a sudden, during the race, I felt so good."
Hart running her all-time best 3200m on her own track seems surprising, considering the national tours Hart did annually against the biggest competition against the rest of the country. Staying close to home to set the record was a departure also from the essence of Beattie's run in Charleston, quite far from her native northern Woodstock. But for the many iconic races, Hart produced, for Hart to reserve one of her best for the place she knows best, and the place that knows her best has a certain poetic justice to it.
That record was meant to stand for decades, if not for the introduction of Tatum David, a seventh grader at the time, to this story.
David's circuitous route to this point in her senior year is well-documented. David, a rural girl from southeastern Olney, IL, is one of less than 10,000 in the area. She hails from a family native to Olney, IL. Aside from two jaunts to Peoria, IL, David's blitzkrieg of state competition came far from the bright lights and media attention, to the cornfields and state roads of sparsely populated Illinois. That is, after all, her home.
So, one can imagine the turmoil that COVID-19 brought the David family, looking to steward Tatum's running career responsibly, in a state where chances of interscholastic competition being held were fickle at best. That June, the family revealed that Tatum would be transferring to IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida, where cross country and track seasons were more certain to be contested. There were few places David could have gone that were farther from home, not just geographically but in essence as well. Few high schools garner more attention to their athletes than IMG, in a premier state for track & field. In her year and a half in Florida, David joined her teammates on Broadway's main stage, running national meets and completing group interviews.
But did IMG ever truly meet David where she was at in her heart? For as her decision to return to Illinois in January 2022 verified, perhaps that running heart was always unsettled until being back where it belonged, at home, in the fields of Illinois.
David has since won three state titles and made multiple All-American performances, embracing her time back at home during her final year before leaving for Charlottesville, VA. And it is exactly this embrace that has allowed David to flourish and become the fullest runner she was always capable of becoming. This is evidenced best in her greatest race of high school coming on April 24, 2023, in Herrin, IL.
This was David's fourth 3200m effort of the season. First, David joined the pomp-and-circumstance of the HOKA Misfits Invite at Gately Park in January. Sporting her custom-made kit, David won finishing 10:22 for three miles. A strong opening effort, but not an all-time best. Then, David flew to Boston for New Balance Nationals, in the brightest of lights and on the biggest of screens. David did set the all-conditions state mile record at this meet, but her great two-mile seemed destined to be delayed yet again and ended early with a rail misstep in the third quarter of the race.
Surely, David is set then to run her forever best in Arcadia, CA, no? The invitational is best known for producing fast 3200s with the best competition in the country and clockwork in ideal weather conditions. Fate certainly must have it that David will finally break the 10:00 barrier there.
David at the Arcadia Invitational on April 8th, 2023. David sported hometown Olney on her kit and ran her best 3200 to date. Photo by Raymond Tran.
"I was excited to run with these girls knowing that it's the best competition," said David after the race on April 8th. "And I started out in the first half feeling decent, but after that... I just didn't feel the best." The record will show a 10:00.71 3200m time for David that day, a PR at the time, but an exasperated look from David crossing the line showed that her day had not yet come.
This sets the stage for a relatively unassuming Girls' Invitational on a weekday in Herrin, bringing fourteen teams to Williamson County. David's attendance at such a meet is a certainty, even with media attention for the weekend is focused on the upstate Distance Night in Palatine. After all, David has opted out of that meet every year for her home invitational, of course.
In Herrin, there were no video cameras, no live stream, no photographers or interviewers. For David, there was no national competition and no leaders for her to track. She had a handful of teammates, parents, and opposing fans to watch her compete. In other words, David was right at home.
Yes, David had to drive two hours to return to Olney after the completion of the race, but the distance from her house isn't important. Home is where the heart is, and at the Herrin Girls' Invitational, David's heart was settled, and she could just run.
The record was spontaneous, reports Rob David, Tatum's father. There was no articulated plan to chase the record on this day. Seeing the all-time record broken at this meet, by an athlete who has run at the biggest of meets, will seem bizarre. Perhaps though, it is fitting the record that was set at home for Katelynne Hart, must be surpassed once again on Illinois soil. It is fitting that a return from Florida was necessary for this stage to be set. In hindsight, Herrin, Illinois truly was the perfect stage for the greatest 3200 race to be run.
And for Tatum David, daughter of downstate Illinois, it was never going to happen anywhere else.