Although St. Thomas sprinter Megan Maki didn’t win her race at the MIAC Indoor Track and Field Championships she participated in a tremendous act of sportsmanship in the event that didn’t go unnoticed.

“Nothing mattered at that time. We were all in the race together. (Rochelle Hickerson) was in the lane to my left, and my first instinct was to go over to her and make sure she was OK,” Maki said.

The first heat of the 60-meter dash finals in St. Joseph, Minnesota, saw something rather unusual take place in the world of competitive sports. Concordia sprinter Rochelle Hickerson was making one last effort to cross the finish line when she inadvertently lost her balance and went into a full tumble on the ground. Hickerson successfully finished the race in good time, but went down hard in the process and was not getting up. Hickerson said she was in pain and nervous.

“I was really embarrassed. I’ve seen it happen before, but it’s one of those things that I thought would never happen to me,” Hickerson said.

Less than a second later rivals Maki and St. Benedict sprinter Valerie Clintsman crossed the same finish line. Maki and Clintsman didn’t hesitate for a second and quickly decided they weren’t going to allow Hickerson lay on the track. The two conference foes immediately reached down to help. Maki said she was just doing what anyone in her position would have done.

“I was just doing the right thing. Just because we are on different teams doesn’t mean we can’t help them out. We are all connected in a way because if the other two girls weren’t there, it wouldn’t be possible to compete,” Maki said.

Maki and Clintsman hovered over the injured and bleeding Hickerson before helping her to her feet. The Tommie and the Bennie each took an arm and carried the injured Cobber over to the Concordia medical staff for further examination. Hickerson said she was pleasantly surprised by the act of her fellow MIAC athletes.

“I didn’t expect anyone to come help me. It was really awesome. Their immediate reaction was to help, and I am not a teammate of either of them. I was just a competitor, so that was cool. It was an awesome situation,” Hickerson said.

Hickerson finished fifth in the race, Maki came in at eighth place and Clintsman finished the dash in ninth, but St. Thomas track and field coach Joe Sweeney said the results of the race didn’t matter. He said the competitive spirit among the three women quickly turned into compassion.

“The fact that it was so spontaneous says a lot about (Maki’s) character and that of (Clintsman). The act of kindness demonstrated the very best of the MIAC and Division-III athletics,” Sweeney said.

Maki and Clintsman each earned their team’s spot on the All-MIAC sportsmanship team, due in large part to their courageous act inside the gymnasium on a cool winter day.

Travis Swan can be reached at swan9954@stthomas.edu.