WINONA, Minn. — In a special and spontaneous display of teamwork, students banded together to save the day with phone flashlights when the lights went out mid-race during a track meet Tuesday night in Winona.
High school athletes from nine school districts were competing in the True Team Section 1 AA on Tuesday.
In the last event of the night, runners were mid-sprint passing batons to their teammates in the 4 x 400 meters relay when the lights cut out.
"I started weaving in and out of the lanes because I didn't know where I was going," student-athlete Ethan Deters said. "And then I looked to my left a little bit and I just saw a bunch of flashlights."
Students ran to the track with cell phone lights ablaze to shine the way so runners could reach the finish line.
"I saw everyone just screaming in my face and all the flashlights pointing towards me saying keep going and everything," Deters said.
"Everybody starts screaming, it was crazy, and then cameras go on and people are like holding them up and stuff it was awesome," student-athlete Caden Anderson said.
Even runners who ended their leg of the relay rushed to grab their phones to help.
"I just got off the track. I was gassed looking for my phone trying to get my flashlight on, just to find out where everyone was at and trying to get them some lights so they could run," Andrew Feine said.
In the end, everyone safely crossed the finish line.
"When I got the baton, it was pretty cool because everyone had it lit up and it was kind of, it's like a once-in-a-lifetime thing," student-athlete Eli Rodemeyer said.
"It was like a special moment."
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