There’s only one word that came to mind for Lincoln High School sophomore Ellery Lincoln after winning the girls one mile race at the Nike/Jesuit Twilight Relays on Friday, April 25.

Special.

Even though it’s an event she won already as a freshman last year, getting to the point of running a time of 4:39.37 in 2025 has been far from a natural progression.

Lincoln won the girls 1500 meter race at state last May inside Hayward Field, but she was battling through a case of whooping cough that continued into the summer season.

As she continued to try and train, the sickness was hanging around all summer with some breathing issues for the mid-distance runner.

“(From the state meet), it was kind of a decline,” Lincoln said. “It was a pretty bad sickness. And then I kind of spent months trying to get back healthy, but after that I was dealing with these breathing problems.”

Come fall and the cross country season, Lincoln was still feeling the effects as she fought through the season.

With a deep group around her though, Lincoln the team went on to win the 6A state title on the girls side with Ellery Lincoln fighting for a third-place finish to lead the Cardinals.

The support and talent around her helped get through the tough times where her body wouldn’t cooperate.

“I’m lucky enough to have some girls I can work out with every day and some of the boys now too this season,” Lincoln said. “I’m just really grateful for the support of my teammates. Me and my teammate Sophia (Malinoski), who also had whooping cough, have kind of been through a lot of this together. She’s one of my best friends and I’m just really grateful to be surrounded by such uplifting people and a great coaching staff.”

After winter break, Lincoln said she started to feel like herself as the team headed to the Nike Indoor Nationals in New York.

The day the plane landed, Lincoln came down with pneumonia.

The sophomore had to miss nationals because of the new sickness and turn her focus toward the spring track and field season.

And with only a couple of meets to warm up prior to the Twilight Relays where she only ran the 800 and a couple relays, Lincoln had only her training to rely on on the Jesuit track.

But that training proved to be plenty as she moved herself into the lead group entering the final lap and took off down the final 600 meters to win the race in state-record fashion.

“I was working pretty hard in practice and I felt so motivated, I was taking a lot of time reflecting, working on my mindset and believing in myself again,” Lincoln said. “It was almost a whole year of not being able to trust my body, even when I was so focused on the race and my body couldn’t respond.

“These last couple of weeks, I’ve really felt like myself again and I’ve really had some of the best workouts of my life. I think I knew if I was there at 600 I could win the race.”

Her time of 4:39.37 is close to the state record, which is currently held by Maria Mutola of Springfield at 4:36.09 according to the record keeping of Bill Snow, Dave Martin and John Cornet. Another record book by Doug Calvert has Lincoln with the new state record.

No matter the all-time standing, breaking 4:40 was the season goal for Lincoln, giving her all of May to only get faster in the high school season.

Ultimately, Lincoln said she’s actually glad her season picked up late as she wants to be running her fastest for national meets come June.

But like last year when she came on to the scene with the mile win, Lincoln made her comeback on the same track, and that will be a pivotal moment in the youngster’s career.

“It just feels like a full circle moment, honestly it’s really special to do it here,” Lincoln said. “This was a pretty magical meet last year and to come back here after a really tough year, I can’t think of a better word than special. It warms my heart to come out here and be back.”