Butler's Maggie Welty, Chesna Tomko and Erin LeMay accept their medals for placing eighth in the PIAA Class 3A girls 4x800 relay. Liz Simms was also on the team, but was being treated under the first aid tent after collapsing near the finish line.

SHIPPENSBURG — Not long after the PIAA Class 3A girls 4x800 relay was completed, Butler distance coach Mike Seybert said, “We ask these kids to give everything they have.”

Then he gestured toward junior Liz Simms and added, “That was everything they have.”

Simms was lying flat on her back on a table under the shade of the first-aid tent inside Shippensburg University's Seth Grove Stadium. The hot and muggy conditions Saturday had put her there.

Simms ran the anchor leg of the relay and held a comfortable lead as she came to the front straightaway on the final lap. She began to struggle halfway down the track and with less than five meters remaining before earning a state title for Butler, she collapsed.

She did get up and made it across the finish line, but the Golden Tornado settled for eighth place. The quartet from Central Bucks West placed first.

“At that point, we're not thinking about wins and losses,” said Seybert. “These are kids and their health comes first.

“We didn't have a hot spring and now these kids are out here competing in this (temperatures close to 90 degrees). Sometimes, Mother Nature gets the best of you,” said Seybert.

“Look there,” he said as he pointed to a girl from State College High School who was sitting on a table opposite Simms. Her shoulders and legs were covered in towels soaked in cold water. “A lot of kids are struggling today.”

Simms was not able to accept her medal during the presentation. The other members of the relay — Chesna Tomko, Erin LeMay and Maggie Welty — stood on the podium without her.

“Liz has ran that race, start to finish, many times,” said Seybert. “She's a competitor who doesn't like to lose at anything.”

Seybert said the race had gone according to plan. Tomko got an early lead and LeMay and Welty held onto it. Simms was in the midst of a strong split as well and would have crossed the finish line well ahead of Central Bucks West.

Later in the day, Simms was on the field to congratulate her teammates — Tomko, Gabby Boden, Maddie Tonini and Anna Baxter — for earning a medal by placing sixth in the 4x400 relay. Simms was supposed to run in that race, as well as the 800 run, but did not compete.

“I wanted to run, but the trainer held me out,” said Simms, who then reflected on her cruel dose of bad luck.

“It was only in the last 10 meters that I lost it,” she said. “I did get up and finish, but I can't stop thinking about the end of that race.

“God has a plan,” she added. “All we can do as athletes is prepare for the next time.”

Even with the unfortunate finish to the race, Butler managed a time of 9 minutes, 19.79 seconds, over seven seconds faster than the time it won with at WPIALs earlier this month.

“The girls ran their hearts out,” said Seybert. “To me, they're still a state championship team and I'm proud of them.”

“We knew we could do it (win a state title),” said Simms. “That race proved we could do it.”