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OPELOUSAS - Meghan Curley has enough determination to help her accomplish big things in her life.
At the parish cross country meet earlier this month, Curley collapsed 20 yards away from the finish line. She was in first place with a two minute lead, but suddenly her body shut down and she fell onto the track. Instead of giving up, Curley crawled her way to the finish line and completed the race.
Opelousas Catholic runner Curley was on pace to run the three-mile race the fastest she has all season at 19 minutes. She said she felt fine the whole race until the last 400 yards. She became tired and her legs started feeling weak.
<center><p><a href="http://www.dailyworld.com/article/20081130/SPORTS/811300309/1006" target="_blank">The rest of the story</a>
By Chrissy Smith •
csmith@dailyworld.com • November 30, 2008
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Curley discovered afterwards that because of taking prescription medication penicillin for strep throat, her body became dehydrated and stopped working. She was still too weak after the meet to run in district or state.
"I remember everything. I had to crawl the rest of the way to the finish line so I was upset at the time. I was thinking, 'I cant believe this is happening.' I just kept going, though, and I ended up getting all-parish," Curley said. "I was determined to finish the race."
Curley got strep throat the week before her parish meet. She said she had no idea that penicillin took water from your body. She was taking three pills a day, so no matter how much water she drank regularly, Curley said she could not have prevented the dehydration.
"From the parish meet to the state meet, there was two weeks in between. I did a hard workout to see where I was at and if I would be able to run at state, and I just didn't feel like myself. I felt like I lost a lot of my shape that I had been in. I was so much weaker," Curley said.
The senior went to the state meet so she could cheer her team on. She said that her coaches said they were proud of her for accomplishing what she did.
Despite not being able to compete in the rest of the meets in her senior year, Curley has a bright future in the racing world. She is being recruited by the University of Louisiana at Monroe and the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.
"ULM and ULL have contacted me and I'm leaning towards UL, but I haven't signed anything yet," the 17-year-old Curley said.
She wants to run the one and two mile races in college while majoring in elementary education. Currently, she is a two-time state champion in the 3200 meters and has the third all-time fastest 3200m time ever run at the 1A state championships.
For now, she has her track season to look forward to where she runs the two mile, one mile and 800.
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