JACKSON TWP — During a track and field meet, Lauren Chappell will sometimes do something to cut the tension.

She'll approach another athlete, turn and fall backward to see if he or she will catch her.

Some do. Some, well, don't.

Some competitors don't always appreciate the Seneca Valley senior hurdler's jovial attitude.

“People get mad. They say, 'I'm warming up!'” Chappell said, chuckling. “I try to stay as carefree as I can. I need to do things like that so the stress doesn't eat me alive.”

Chappell is well acquainted with stress.

She started her athletic career as a gymnast, but the ravages of that sport over an 11-year span left her body broken and forced her to try something new.

“The doctor told me my injuries were only common in auto accidents,” Chappell said, “and gymnastics.”

Track and field filled that competitive void for Chappell and the hurdles were a natural event for her.

Chappell has been one of the best hurdlers in Butler County and the WPIAL, but has fallen just short of her ultimate goal of earning a medal and reaching the state meet.

The frustration has been hard to take at times for Chappell, who decided to rededicate herself to track and field entering her senior season — and final shot.

It seems to be paying off.

Chappell has broken the Seneca Valley indoor record in the 60-meter hurdldes several times already, including a scintillating run of 9.31 seconds at the TSTCA meet at Edinboro University this past weekend.

It was good enough to qualify her for the state indoor meet, which will be held this weekend at Penn State University.

Right now, she's on the outside looking in on spot on the medal stand based on seed times, but Chappell thinks she has a chance to have another breakthrough.

“Whether I medal or not is in my own hands,” Chappell said. “I'd love to run 9.2. I'd love to (get under nine seconds).”

The 9.31 time at Edinboro broke a disheartening string of meets for Chappell.

“This year I've been training really hard,” Chappell said. “I initially broke it at the first meet this year and from then on I kept hitting the exact same time over and over — 9.5. It kept happening and it was getting frustrating, so bringing it down by .2 seconds is pretty insane.”

And it didn't come by accident.

Tired of being just on the cusp of something big, Chappell decided to ratchet up her approach to the sport and began doing strength and speed training with Thomas Ricketts at the Oxford Athletic Club in Wexford.

She also ran this summer for the Nadia Track Club located in Pittsburgh.

Simply put, Chappell is all in this season.

“I definitely needed to do something,” Chappell said. “It's been an eye-opening experience getting so close but not being able to achieve what I've wanted.

“I learned talent doesn't work hard unless you do the work.”

Chappell is hopeful her breakout indoor season will translate to the outdoor campaign.

In the 60-meter hurdles, mechanics and the start are king and Chappell believes she has mostly worked out the kinks.

The question now is will it translate to the 100-meter hurdles during the outdoor season, where she ran a top time of 15.28 during the dual-meet schedule but notched a disappointing 15.77 at the WPIAL Track and Field Championships at Baldwin in May.

“My struggles in the 100 come toward the end of the race,” Chappell said. “But I think the training I'm doing will definitely help.”

Chappell isn't just a hurdler. She also does the long jump, shot put and javelin.

She placed sixth at the WPIAL championships last season in the high jump at 17 feet, 10 inches, which was also tops in Butler County.

During the summer, she competed in the heptathlon, which she said rekindled her affection for track and field.

“It's actually my favorite part of track right now,” Chappell said. “I was starting to dislike track because of the frustration I felt. Doing the hep, I fell in love with track again.”

And she proved to be quite good at it, placing second at the regional meet and advancing to nationals in North Carolina.

Things didn't go according to plan there, though, for Chappell, who placed 28th out of 28 competitors.

She faulted in the shot put and high jump to give her two zeros, which ended any chance she had.

But Chappell took it in stride.

“Finishing dead-last was an eye-opener for me,” she said. “It was so hot, but it was gorgeous there and it was so fun to run against some of those amazing athletes who were there. It was a bummer to finish 28th, but it was a learning experience.”

Chappell said she will continue to do trust falls at meets this year — and trust that her hard work will get her where she wants to go.

“My sophomore year I was very close to making it to states,” Chappell said. “Last year, I was closer. Those back-to-back near-misses at Baldwin didn't sit well with me. It's motivated me like nothing else.”