Thoughts fill her mind of possible success and the fear of failure. As the start time approaches, the nerves set in.

“On your mark, set.” Boom! The starting gun blows, girls lunge forward, and the race is off. Will this finally be the race she has been wanting to run?

After two years of trying, the race of Natalie Good’s dreams came true on May 3. 

Good has run many events for Dallastown but favors the 800m run because she’s had a particular goal for herself in that event. This goal consisted of breaking the 41-year-old school record.

At the 19th Annual Henderson Invitational, she ran the open 800m run. She was seeded second in her heat, but from the start made it clear that it was her race.

Good led the pack from the very beginning and came around the first turn looking confident. 

She stayed strong throughout the second lap, holding off the competitors and persevered to the finish. 

“I kept telling myself to keep going and not back down because I knew if I did I wouldn’t have broken it,” Good said.

Right after she finished she was unsure of the result, but when teammates gathered around in excitement handing out high fives to her, it all became real.

When results were released, Good placed 8th overall, earning a medal and a time of 2:18.00. 

She destroyed the old school record by over a second.

Although this was a huge victory for Good individually, she says it was important to have her teammates to motivate her and the coaches to develop her as a runner. The support gave her the confidence she needed.

“She is the type of athlete that a coach dreams of coaching because she works hard, follows directions, and you always know that she will put everything out on the track,” Coach Granger said.

Good ran a 2:19.36 last year just barely missing the record. This gave her extra motivation and made the recorded breaking moment this year extra special.

“It checks one box off of my goals for this season, a weight off of my shoulders,” Good said.

However this was not a walk in the park; Good had to overcome many obstacles to get here.

As a Dallastown student athlete, she has been involved in cross country and track & field, but track is by far her favorite.

She opted out of cross country her junior year because she strongly disliked the long distances, and because she was seriously injured running at states as a sophomore.

“Her dedication to rehab after a significant injury, was an excellent example of how to make lemonade from lemons,” Granger said.

Good enjoys running track better, and knew she wanted to run from a very young age. She has been running since 7th grade, but also has some family influences as well.

“My aunt ran track; she held the 400m run record at Dallastown and my dad ran track also, he held the 800m record at Red Lion,” Good recalls.

These two role models have set an example to her of what a future might look like. 

But now this is a reality for her too. 

Ever since freshman year, she has been a huge contributor to the overall success of the track team, running multiple events such as the 400, 800, 4×400 relay, and the 4×800 relay.

She was also a part of the 4x800m relay that broke the school record and made its journey to be district medalists and state competitors the past two years. 

After setting the record, Good had even higher expectations for herself in the postseason, hoping to better her time at districts and make a strong showing at states both individually and with her relay. 

She did just that.

She placed 4th at the District III meet in the 800, bettering her time by finishing in 2:17.38 and qualifying for states.

Good, along with her relay teammates Neila Granger, Addison Emenheiser, and Morgan Good placed 3rd at districts and then, in the PIAA meet, dropped 9 seconds, placed 5th, and set yet another school record with a time of 9:21.12.

She is looking forward to next year’s track season and to her future. 

After high school, she plans to attend college majoring in animal science and hopefully attend vet school, possibly continuing track and field at the collegiate level. 

So not only did she run the race that she wanted and achieve her goal, but Natalie Good also left her mark in Dallastown track and field history.