All-Empire track and field: Jacque Taylor

<p>Jacque Taylor's joy for running takes in a passion for competition that helped her to push through a painful leg injury and finish fifth in California's prep girls' mile championship.</p><p>Even when not at her best, the Casa Grande senior was still far and away the Empire's top girls distance runner this track season.</p><p>Taylor's perseverance — and plenty of ice and Advil for those shin splints — kept her among the state's elite.</p><p>“I never want to say I can't do something. It was worth the try,” Taylor said.</p><p>“I had a difficult season and I never gave up, and I still did really well.”</p><p>The lesson Taylor learned — never doubt your ability — should serve her well running for the University of North Carolina.</p><p>“I've never been injured before,” she said. “I knew I was still fast and still good. But just the fact of getting to the state meet was kind of tough. I just had to keep telling myself it didn't hurt that badly.”</p><p>One concession Taylor made was to focus on the mile and not attempt to double with the 2-mile in the big season meets, as Taylor did in her sophomore and junior years.</p><p>“I'm not someone who overtrains,” she said. “I didn't want to do too much, so I stuck with the event that I was better at.”</p><p>Taylor's time was nearly six seconds off her fourth-place mark in the mile at last year's state meet. With that finish, Taylor joined Santa Rosa's Julia Stamps and Montgomery's Sara Bei as the only girls in Empire history to post three top-four finishes at the state meet.</p><p>Yet the best mile Taylor ran this year, coming at the Viking Invitational, still is seventh all-time for the Empire. Taylor's top 2-mile this spring was the 11th best ever for the region.</p><p>This season's highlight for Taylor was winning the Stanford Invitational mile and helping the Casa Grande girls defend their distance medley relay title at the same meet.</p><p>“I did so well,” Taylor said. “And we did so well as a team. That was pretty cool.”</p><p><i>(You can reach Staff Writer Michael Coit at 521-5470 or mike.coit@pressdemocrat.com.</i>)</p>