April Rotilio showed up in Morgantown after a brilliant prep career.

However, her first year of collegiate track and field didn’t go nearly as well as she had hoped or even planned.

After battling through an ankle injury much of the season and missing the latter part of her freshman indoor campaign and being plagued by the same problem during the outdoor season, Rotilio came away a little discouraged.

Despite that there was never a thought of throwing in the towel.

And the Mountaineers track program and Rotilio are extremely glad that the ankle is 100 percent because the ex-St. John Central standout is giving a glimpse of what she’s capable of during this indoor season.

“I am just really excited,” Rotilio said during a phone interview shortly before she left for anatomy class. “I am loving every minute of it right now, and I never thought that this year would go so well.”

Going this well?

It’s been almost a dream come true, and the dream isn’t over yet for Rotilio.

She and her distance medley relay teammates are going national. The Mountaineer squad — which sees Rotilio running the 400 meter dash leg — qualified in the 12th and final position to this weekend’s meet at the University of Arkansas in Fayettville.

“My teammates and I have been just taking it all in,” Rotilio said. “When I was in high school, I never dreamed of anything like this because I was running just because I really loved track.”

The Lady Mountaineer team features nary a senior, including a frosh, two sophomores and a junior, which makes Rotilio rather excited.

“We feel like we can only go up from here,” Rotilio said. “We never expected this to happen.”

The Lady Mountaineers would obviously love to fare well, but they understand it’s going to be an up-hill battle seeing that they own the 12th best time of the entrants.

“No matter what happens, it’s going to be amazing because we’re going down there as a team,” Rotilio said. “Whatever we do, we’re going to be excited.”

Rotilio’s indoor season has involved a lot more success than the trip to Arkansas. Let’s not forget she was the Big East runnerup in the 400 meter dash.

“I was really nervous at the Big East meet,” Rotilio admitted.

The nervousness didn’t stem from the fact that it was the Big East meet or the fact that it’s held in the world-famous Armory in New York City. It was the number of dashes that Rotilio faced. She had to run a qualifying heat in open dash, her leg of the DMR and the 4×4.

“Running four 400s in less than 24 hours really scared me,” Rotilio explained. “I thought my body could handle it, but I was still nervous.”

The nerves multiplied once Rotilio broke the tape in the open 400. She finished with the preliminary round with the seventh best time of the nine finalists.

“I ran a decent time, but I still barely made the finals,” Rotilio explained. “And it put me in the slow heat of the finals.”

Rotilio turned in a 55.51 in her semifinal heat, which was third in that heat alone.

“I was down a little bit,” Rotilio admitted. “But my coach kept telling me to just focus on (the next day) and I had great support from my teammates.”

The next day was definitely a better day — not in terms of time but in terms of finish. She turned in a 55.60, but she knew she had to play the waiting game with the hot heat still to come.

“I knew the time, and I just stood there with my coach and watched the second heat,” Rotilio said. “Every race I ran that weekend was like the state meet in high school because so much is on the line and you have to run your best time each time out.”

After the results were posted and Rotilio saw she had finished second in the competition, it would have taken something totally out of the ordinary to bring Rotilio off the high she was riding.

“I really don’t think anything could have gotten me down that day,” she offered. “It was just a great meet, and my parents were there too, which made it even better for me.”

Rotilio and the DMR team actually won the Big East title with a 11:16.87 to complete a highly productive weekend in the Big Apple.

“I was on a real high after the DMR,” Rotilio said. “I think that helped me carry through in the open 400.”

The college track scene has afford Rotilio opportunities to see all sorts of different places such as Penn State, Virginia Tech, The Armory, Boston and beyond.

“Running in the Armory was absolutely amazing, but we’ve ran on a lot of great tracks,” Rotilio said. “To know what kind of national meets and who’s ran in the Armory is what makes it such a great place. It’s definitely the best track I have ran on.”

Once Rotilio and her teammates return to Morgantown, they’ll take a brief stint off for the Easter holiday and return to the track the following weekend at the Raleigh Relays to begin the outdoor season. Shifting gears from indoor to outdoor shouldn’t be too difficult for Rotilio.

“It will be a little bit of a change obviously,” Rotilio said. “But the biggest difference for me is that this feels like my first outdoor season. But, I am definitely looking forward to it.”

Rotilio is also a true sophomore during the outdoor season after the coaching staff elected not to red-shirt the 11-time all-Ohioan despite her battles with the ankle injury.

“I am just excited to get the opportunity to run the 400 outside again,” Rotilio laughed. “I have a feeling we’re going to have a great outdoor season.”

STEPHANIE MORGAN

IN BALTIMORE

The Barnesville junior standout will continue her nationwide tour on the running circuit this weekend when she takes part in the Nike Indoor Nationals in Baltimore this weekend. She’ll run the 2-mile run.

POLE VAULT QUEEN

One of the nation’s top prep pole vaulters for the indoor season has Ohio Valley roots. Jade Reibold — a junior at Olentangy High School in Powell — has vaulted 12-ft-9 this season. Her mark came at the Saint Charles Heart of the Lion Invitational. Reibold’s parents — Rick Reibold and the former Vicki Winters — are Martins Ferry natives. She’s the granddaughter of Bob and Virginia Winters as well as the late Robert and Maxine Riebold.

Staskey can be reached at sstaskey@timesleaderonline.com.