Jordyn Borsch finished third in the 200-meter dash at last year's state tournament. She has not lost a race of any distance since.
A Maple Grove senior, Borsch stands a good chance of getting redemption in the 200 when the state meets are held Thursday and Friday at St. Michael-Albertville High School. She is the favorite to repeat as the 100 and 400 champion after sweeping the sprints at the Class 3A, Section 5 meet Wednesday.
Winning every event doesn't satisfy her, because her personal best times all came last season.
"It would be awesome to finish the season undefeated. But I think, for me, I really want to [set a personal record] in my events," Borsch said.
Maple Grove coach Jen Riewe said Borsch provides her own motivation.
"It comes internally for her," Riewe said. "She is her best competitor. She has been focused on pushing herself at the right time, both in practice and in her events."
One way the Maple Grove coaching staff has helped Borsch excel this season is by cutting down on her workload. Last year, she ran in relays as well as the sprints. The coaches considered having her run on the 4x400 relay team but decided having her focus on individual events was best. Borsch said eliminating the relays from her plate gave her time to work on her starts from the blocks, an important part of the invididual sprints.
Borsch, who is committed to run for Notre Dame in college, already owns the school record in the three sprints, and her best in the 400, 54.27 seconds, stands as the state meet record, set last year. She sees the state meet as her chance to better each of her marks.
"There's a lot of talented girls in our state," Borsch said. "I think they can definitely push me to new records."
