LCHS Track standout Becca Heitzig off to a triple record-breaking start

[May 20, 2021] 

Lincoln Community High School freshman distance runner Becca Heitzig has started the season breaking three long-standing track records in just a little over two week’s time. If you add up the years the three records stood, you would come up with 103 years worth of records, shattered by one sensational runner in the blink of an eye.

On April 27th Heitzig broke the 800 meter school record that was held by, get this, her mom, Kim Davis Heitzig. Mom set the record back in 1991 with a time of 2:19.9. Becca broke the record at the Rochester meet with a time of 2:18.1.

On May 3rd Heitzig broke the school record in the 3200m. Heitzig’s record-setting time was 11:24.56 at the meet at Champaign Central. She broke the previous record of 11:53.2 that was held by Barb Verderber Bowlby and set back in 1978.

On May 14th Heitzig ran the 1600m in Stanford at the 41st Annual Olympia Coed Relays and broke both the LCHS school record as well as setting a new meet record at the event. Heitzig’s record-setting time was 5:10.52. The previous record was held by Tara Smith. Smith set her record of 5:31.0 back in 1991. The previous Olympia Coed Relays record was 5:16.8.

Busted, broken, shattered, annihilated…..and the list could go on. That’s what Heitzig is doing to records in just her freshman year at LCHS. It’s insane. And this coming from a girl no bigger than a minute. Muscles ripple from her slender 5’6 frame as she glides around the track.

With Heitzig setting foot on a real track for the first time in two years because of Covid, and breaking records her first time out as a Lady Railer is truly remarkable.

Even mom Kim is impressed.

“First of all, I can’t believe Becca broke my record during her first ever high school meet,” said Kim. “And after not having a track season last year, Becca said, ‘Man it’s been two years since I had a race on the track!’ We couldn’t be prouder.”

Kim herself had a stellar track career at LCHS and as she explained, “I was a 400m runner all through high school, chasing after Stacy Cook’s record and I just couldn’t reach it,” said Kim. “My coach, John Welsh, said, ‘Let’s just have you run an 800 for one race.’ I did and I broke the record. I was so excited to have an individual record. We had a great track team. I am still a member of the current relay school records for 4x800, 800m medley and 4x400.”

“I never thought the 800m record would hold for 30 years,” Kim continued. “At my 20th year class reunion, Becca was four years old at the time, and I just got a feeling, wouldn’t it be cool if my daughter broke it first?!”

Kim literally recalled, “I think I might try and train my daughter to beat that.”

As Becca got a little older and was familiar with Kim’s record-holding running career, a seed was planted in her mind.

“When I first heard that, I was like, ‘Mom, you still have a record? I think I wanna try and beat that!’ From the very start that I knew she had a record, I wanted to break it. She’s like my biggest competition to just go after. I always wanted to break that one. She can’t have her name up there,” Becca said laughing, referring to the board hanging in Roy S. Anderson Gymnasium that lists all the track and field record holders.

“She’s ruthless,” laughed Kim.

Where did she get that?

"From you,” answered Becca, as both mom and daughter laugh.

Kim comes from the highly competitive Davis family that used to bet on what would happen in commercials while watching television. So you could say Becca’s competitive spirit comes naturally.

Her mom is also her biggest supporter, cheering her on from the sidelines of the track, away from the finish line and usually around turn two, but always in her ear with encouragement and advice.

Kim was at the meet in Rochester when Becca broke the 800m. Becca ran against one of her top competitors in Colleen Zeibert of Rochester. Kim called Zeibert “a top notch competitor.” Becca ran against Zeibert in cross country and placed second to her in regionals and sectionals last fall.

Kim noted that Becca is a bit more competitive when it comes to losing twice.

The Rochester coach actually called ahead the night before the meet to let the Lincoln coach know that Zeibert was going to enter the 800m because she wanted to break the Rochester school record, said Kim. So at that point it was meant to be for Heitzig to run the 800m too.

Both girls wanted to break school records that night and they did. They were the only two girls in the race and Heitzig won by three tenths of a second.

“It was a battle with Becca having to fight for the finish with a time of 2:18.1,” said Kim. “Colleen Zeibert also broke Rochester’s school record with a time of 2:18.4.”

What a finish!

“That felt good,” said Becca of the exhilarating win against Zeibert. “That was a hard fight in the end. All the oxygen went to my legs. I almost fainted.”

Becca also admitted that her mom’s 800m record was the hardest to beat.

Now the records are crumbling one-by-one.

Advancing to the record-breaking night of May 3rd, when Heitzig broke Barb Verderber Bowlby’s record in the 3200m, there is a bit of a back story behind that, too. Bowlby was Heitzig’s junior high science teacher at West Lincoln Broadwell. Bowlby would always inquire about Heitzig’s times running Cross Country at WLB. That led to Heitzig learning about Bowlby’s record at LCHS and telling her teacher, ”I wanna beat your record someday.”

After her 1978 record was recently broken, Bowlby said, “I remember training hard and I loved to run that two mile race. Becca told me in seventh grade that she was going after my high school record and her mother’s. She even recorded her goal in a School Year in Review booklet I assigned to the students. I always encouraged her to go for it. I am so very happy for Becca and amazed how she reached her goal so quickly and then also broke the 1600m record. She is a special young lady.”

So with two records broken in just less than a week, Heitzig set her sights on the 1600m.

But prior to running the 1600m she squeezed in a little speed work to get ready for an elite running event in Palatine. So to prepare for Palatine, she ran the 100m, 200m and 400m on May 6th. She won the 200m. She broke a minute in the 400m and won it, too. She did not win the 100m, but she said, “I was right there. I just was not good getting out of the block.”

“She just started learning how to use blocks,” added Kim.

This set her up for success on May 8th at The Distance Night in Palatine, where the top 48 runners from around the state were invited to run in different events. Heitzig was ranked 13th in the 800m going into the race at Palatine. Putting Lincoln, a small town according to the race announcer who said he’s even been there, on the map was Heitzig with a PR time of 2:14.48 in the 800m. Heitzig finished sixth overall in the race and was just one of three freshmen competing in the field of 22 runners.

Heading back to the 217, an area code those Chicagoland people need to be familiar with, Heitzig made plans for the 1600m. Heitzig actually broke the 1600m record in practice one night and like her mom noted, “We need to get her in a meet so she can run it.”

So that happened last Friday night, May 14th, in Stanford at the Olympia Coed Relays. Heitzig crossed the finish line in record-setting time, 5:10.21 to be exact, beating the second-place finisher by eleven seconds.

Heitzig had a lot of people rooting for her at Olympia. Mom stood by the fence and encouraged her. Dad was nearby, watching her time. Heitzig’s brother, Brenden, a member of the LCHS boys track team, was there in the infield. Her LCHS teammates and coaches cheered her on from the infield. Other family and friends cheered her on from high above in the stands. Coach Johnie Meisner, who is also Becca’s mentor on the track, even made the event in time to see Heitzig running.

And to make the story even more extraordinary, Tara Smith was even texting Kim all the way from Arizona to check on the younger Heitzig’s progress that night.

After Heitzig broke Smith’s record, Smith sent a video message for Becca. In it she told Becca, “I want to tell you that having the mile record was something that I was so proud of for so long but now I get to be proud of you to carry the torch and hopefully for the next 30 years you’ll have that mile record, as long as nobody else can pass you. Not only my record, your mom’s record, Barb Verderber’s record, you have just blown the roof off the track. I am excited to see what happens in your running career. I think you have the best parents and the best grandparents really pushing you and supporting you and obviously a great, great future. Congrats to you and I’ll be thinking of you as you finish all of your years at LCHS with the track team and cross country. Best of luck, Becca!”

Smith added, “It’s incredible for Becca to be such a phenomenal athlete at such a young age.”
 

Incidentally, Kim Davis Heitzig, Tara Smith, Jenna Ludwig Crombie and Michelle Sackett Ryan are still the record holders for the 4x800 with a time of 9:49.8. If it’s up to the younger Heitzig she will recruit relay runners in the future, in hopes of breaking that 30 year old and counting record. So look out, ladies, there is a target on your backs.

While Becca has put in hard work on and off the track as a dedicated and determined athlete, she realizes the team effort it has taken to get her to this point. Kim and Becca are both quick to credit others with a part in the success. It does take a village.

“The stars aligned and we were lucky to meet Coach Johnie Meisner her fifth grade year,” said Kim. “Becca has put in several hours in the summer and after her in-season sports, working towards her goals. Becca couldn’t be happier, but she would never have reached these goals without all the workouts, texts and encouragement from Coach Meisner, Lincoln alum and UIS XC/Track standout Blake Jones, and the high school boys that train with Coach Meisner. They push her to run faster and never take it easy on her. Hard work has paid off and the future is bright for LCHS track.”

Becca, who runs with the boys at practice, agreed and gave credit where credit is due.

“I really have to thank the boys at every practice,” said Becca. “They push me and cheer me on, which is awesome. And I have to thank Blake (Jones) and Johnie (Meisner) who give me workout plans and race plans. I couldn’t do anything without any of them. I am also thankful for the cheering on by Mrs. (Gayal) Rademaker, my parents, my grandparents, and my teammates. I just have a really good support system.”

And while much of this story has been centered around mother and daughter, dad and brother need to be tossed in the mix and given recognition.

Becca recalled going to the ALMH 5Ks for little kids with her dad and brother when she was younger. That’s where she got her start, when running was fun perhaps.

“When we were younger, the hospital had these little 5Ks that me and Brenden and some other little kids would do,” explained Becca. “That’s where we started running. We would always run with my dad in the mornings, too. Brenden has always been my biggest competition growing up and I’ve always wanted to beat him. So if he’s doing something, I want to do it, too. Then we got a cross country team at WLB. I wouldn’t always call running fun but I do call winning fun. That’s my favorite part, competing and winning.”

Spoken like a true champion.

So what’s next for Heitzig?

For starters, the Apollo Conference Meet is scheduled for today. Then IHSA is allowing Track and Field to have a postseason, all the way up to a state tournament. And finally, Heitzig is looking forward to the future, getting stronger and trying new events.

“In the summer I am going to be working with Johnie (Meisner) on the 300 hurdles because he says I have the endurance and speed for that,” she said. “Not many people do that race. Maybe someday in the future I’d be able to break that record, but that’s gonna be a hard one to beat. Maybe someday if I get stronger I could break the 400m record. That would be awesome. I’ve got big goals.”

Without a doubt, when it’s all said and done, Heitzig will leave a legacy at LCHS. More than likely, year after year she will break her own records.

“I want to make them unbreakable,” she said, smiling.

This led to Kim chiming in and saying to Becca, “Yeah, YOUR daughter is gonna have to be really good!”

More laughter between the two. But what a thought. A multi-generational family of runners outdoing each other. Talk about competition running in the genes and taking it to another level.

“I get it from my mama,” said Becca of her competitive nature. “I want to beat her in anything I can.”

“I wouldn’t want it any other way,” added Kim with a chuckle.

Finally, there is that saying, “Records are meant to be broken.”

Mark Spitz is credited with saying those words.

Spitz was a nine-time Olympic champion swimmer who won seven gold medals, all in world record time in the 1972 Summer Olympics. Spitz’s records were broken by Michael Phelps in the 2008 Summer Olympics. Phelps won eight gold medals, breaking Spitz’s record that lasted for 36 years.

So for past high school athletes Kim Davis, Barb Verderber and Tara Smith, they can now say they know how Mark Spitz felt after seeing his records broken by Michael Phelps.

Spitz also said, “Swimming isn’t everything, winning is.”

Heitzig can most likely relate to that, in terms of running that is. Heitzig and Spitz definitely share a mentality that puts them in the top spot on the podium.

Congratulations, Becca, and we all look forward to following your success!

[Teena Lowery with photos by Kim Heitzig]