For a second straight year Hudson wowed the estimated crowd of 10,000 fans in attendance during the Class 1A Track and Field Championships using her excelled speed to run away from the competition adding two more gold medals to an already stacked trophy case back home.
Hudson was able to defend her 100 and 200 meter dash titles from a year ago, while making history in the process. Hudson jumped out to a fast start and never looked back blazing a time of 12.24 to set a new Class 1A record in the 100 meter dash, previously held by Luvly Williams of Shamrock (12.25) in 2017. Later in the evening, Hudson stormed out to a huge lead off the curve then turned on the jets for a strong finish to claim her second gold medal in impressive fashion clocking a 25.87 to win the 200 meter dash.
“I’m thrilled I won state again,” Hudson said. “I truly care about the medals and the place I get but I really look at the times I get. The gold medals are awesome, but I was more happy to see the times I was able to put up here at state.”
Hudson was in all of Miami’s 28 points that was good enough for a fourth-place team finish. What’s more eye-opening for Hudson, is in only two years she’s put herself in elite company racking up four state championships with a total of six medals.
While the accolades are fantastic it was questionable if Hudson was even going to have a track season in February. The junior admitted Saturday night she’s battled through a severe back injury and pinched nerves that affect her legs. Fortunately for Hudson, she was healthy enough to make it back by district though not 100 percent.
“I’m still not 100 percent,” Hudson said. “I’m probably 85 percent. I wasn’t worried about coming back for district as much as I was going to get hurt running. At regionals I finally felt good enough where I knew I could open my running a little bit and just let myself go.”
Miami girls track coach Kerri Dukes can’t say enough about Hudson’s toughness and determination to not only make it back for track season, but compete at a high level.
“Anna has been injured since the fall,” Dukes said. “She’s a jumper too, and she couldn’t jump this year because of her injury. She’s worked hard and did all the right things to get back. She even told me before the state meet, I’m going to go set a record, and she did that. She has so much grit and she’s so tough. No one works harder than her. Track is her element, and I’m so glad to see her back winning gold medals.”
