SLIPPERY ROCK — With tennis shoes on her small feet and a track uniform held onto her skinny frame by some well-placed safety pins, Lacey Cochran was the fastest junior high girl on the Slippery Rock University track.

She won several medals that day, but didn't stick around to claim them.

"I was tired," Cochran said. "I just wanted to go home. Track was just something for me to do, something to release all of my energy."

It became much, much more. Ten years later, Cochran is still the fastest girl on the Slippery Rock University track.

Cochran, a Freeport and Slippery Rock University graduate, leaves The Rock with five school records.

The latest mark might have been her crowning achievement.

Cochran teamed with Tiffany Tedesco, Amanda Seigworth and Allison Smith to break the school mark in the 1,600-meter relay at the NCAA Division II National Championships in Texas Saturday night.

The quartet ran a time of 3 minutes, 44.83 seconds to break the mark. Cochran was on the relay team that set the record two years ago.

By finishing seventh in the nation, the team earned all-American status. It was Cochran's first despite all of her successes at SRU.

"I was thinking I would just love for Lacey to get an all-American certificate. She deserves it," said SRU track and field coach John Papa. "She ran hard and I think the others ran hard for her."

Cochran and her teammates didn't think the record was within reach.

"Two years ago, people thought it was untouchable," Cochran said. "They thought it would never be broken."

But the quartet tied it in the preliminaries at the national meet before breaking it in the finals.

At the end of the race, the foursome sat on a grassy hill to catch their breath and celebrate their record. That's when reality slammed into Cochran faster than one of her 400-meter splits.

It was over.

"I said, 'This is my last meet,'" Cochran said. "I don't think it really hit me sitting on that hill because I was too excited to be sad, but I started to tear up."

The groundwork for Cochran's college success was laid at Freeport.

Cochran won a state title in the 400-meter run during her junior season and captured four WPIAL titles in that event.

She graduated with eight state and 12 WPIAL medals in her trophy case.

Cochran left Freeport for Bowling Green State University in Ohio, but stayed for just one year before transferring to SRU.

"I wanted to be closer to home," Cochran said. "I guess, looking back, Bowling Green wasn't that far away, but as a freshman leaving home for the first time, it was. Going to SRU worked out pretty well."

Cochran made an immediate impact with The Rock.

She won the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference championship in the 400 during her first outdoor season and ran a leg on the record-setting indoor and outdoor 1,600 relay teams.

She has school records in the indoor and outdoor 400, the indoor and outdoor 1,600 relay and the outdoor 200-meter dash, which she shares with teammate Vera McDaniel.

"I always joked with Vera that I was going to break her record, which I never thought I would do," Cochran said. "I never thought I could run that fast."

An elementary education major, Cochran hopes to stay involved with track and field as a coach.

But she knows it won't be the same as feeling the wind against her face as she makes the final turn in the 400 on the way to the finish line.

"Right now it just feels like the end of the season," Cochran said. "But at the end of the summer, when they start practicing, and when they start going to meets, it will be hard."

Lacey Cochran recently concluded her track career at Slippery Rock University with five school records:<B>OutdoorsEvent Record time</B>400 55.47200 24.661,600 relay 3:44.83<B>IndoorsEvent Record time</B>400 57.351,600 relay 3:54.82