Hope Julian

Rebekah and Hope Julian.

 

By Mike London
mike.london@salisburypost.com

LANDIS — The bad news is this will be the last time you’ll read the phrase “South Rowan’s Hope Julian” in the Post.

The Julians are relocating, and Hope, who was well on her way to becoming the greatest female high school distance runner in county history, maybe even greater than her mother, Rebekah Frick Julian, will be competing in the 2025-26 school year for Forsyth Country Day.

Forsyth Country Day is a private prep school in Lewisville.

The good news is Hope gave the Raiders hope and sunshine while she was around. She gave them a fantastic freshman season in cross country and was the Post’s Runner of the Year for that sport. She was even better in outdoor track, but she’ll be runner-up in that sport countywide because of East Rowan’s dynamic 300 hurdles state champ Sadie Featherstone, who just signed with N.C. State.

Julian’s last race as a Raider will be one she’ll never forget. The 3200 meters, a grind of 1.988 miles, in the 3A State Championships in Greensboro.

“It was an incredibly long day in Greensboro,” Julian said. “I ran with my teammates (Makenna Barham, Graice Hinson, Madalynn Gulledge) for ninth place in the 4×800 early in the day. Then we were sitting around for about seven hours until the 3200, and we were watching the time pass by so slowly. I scratched from the 1600 because the 3200 is my best race and I didn’t want the 1600 to take even the smallest bit of energy away from my 3200. I was seeded third, so I wasn’t nervous, but I knew were two very fast girls in the 3200. I knew I wouldn’t be the one dictating the pace. If they went out fast, I wasn’t sure if I should try to go with them.”

There are myriad 3200 strategies, but they boil down to two basics. Get out quick and force a pace that kills off the competition or sit and kick. In other words, put it in cruise at a nice pace and save most of the energy for a devastating sprint at the end.

Juniors Georgy Helmers from E.E. Smith High in Fayetteville and First Flight’s Morgan Miller proved to be even faster than their impressive seed times. They forced a wicked pace. They flew away from the pack at the outset of the 3200.

“I was thinking maybe I could hang on to them,” Julian said. “But I was running my mile pace in a two-mile race. Way too fast. I realized I had to dial it back some. I had to let them go.”

Julian let them go, but she was running alone in third place, the leader of the pack. She could sense and hear the stream of runners right behind her.

“I was leading this big pack,” Julian said. “I didn’t know until I saw the pictures after the race just how many runners were so close to me. I just kept going at a my pace, but I didn’t know if I could do it if I still needed to kick at the end.”

With the finish line in sight, she was still third. She could hear family yelling at her. She was relieved to her them screaming, “You’ve got it!” instead of “Hope, You’ve got to go!”

The two really fast girls ran 10:35 and 10:38.

Julian finished third in 11:09, clocking a fraction of a second better than her seed time. She finished five seconds ahead of the fourth-place girl — First Flight’s Kayla Folkes. Julian headed to the podium and All-State recognition, and that had been her main goal.

“Everyone’s been kidding me about it, but when I got to the finish line I threw my arms up in the air like I’d just won the race,” Julian said. “Honestly, it really did feel like a win. I was proud that I didn’t give up and proud of the race I ran, especially with all that’s happened this year.”

A lot did happen. After her cross country success, a brief break and adopting a new running plan with increased mileage, Julian suffered through some mysterious struggles during the indoor track season.

“I was running these awful times,” Julian said. “I was feeling disconnected and just couldn’t very run fast. I was trying as hard as I could, and everyone was encouraging me, but I just couldn’t go fast. I felt woozy some days. I was wondering what in the world was happening to me.”

Julian eventually was diagnosed with iron deficiency anemia.

“I started taking iron tablets and before the indoor state championships eating chicken livers that my dad (Scott) had cut up like hamburger patties,” Julian said. “But it was too late for the livers to help much. I didn’t feel great at state and finished ninth in the 3200.”

In addition to the iron tablets, she’s learned more about her diet and has cut back on caffeine and dairy products.

She didn’t get back on track until about a month after the indoor state meet. She got her mojo back running in late March at Mount Tabor High. She turned in a 5:23 mile to break a school record set by Tracy Bradshaw in the 1980s.

“That was the race where I finally felt like myself again,” Julian said. “I can’t tell you how happy I was.”

Things have been going well since that breakthrough. In the outdoor season, she was county, conference and regional champ in the 3200 as well as the 1600. She ran a 5:16 in the 1600 in the South Piedmont Conference Championships at Robinson.

She also ran on the county champion 4×800 relay team.

She’s better at the longer distances than the 800, but she can compete in the 800. She finished second in the county and the conference at that distance. In meets where South had a chance to be a factor in the team scoring, she always lined up for four events for her team, despite some short rest periods.

“I’m not a great 800 runner, but (West Rowan’s) Lylah Dennis helped me run a PR trying to keep up with her,” Julian said cheerfully.

The Julians have been considering a move to the Winston-Salem area for some time. Recently, they found a house they love and a school they believe can give Hope broader and deeper academic opportunities as she prepares for the time when she chooses a college.

“We have friends who go to Forsyth Country Day, and when we took a tour of the school and talked to coaches and teachers, it all looked amazing,” Hope said. “They have great academics as well as great cross country and track programs. I’m excited about it.”

Rebekah Julian, a veterinarian who was Hope’s coach this school year, can take a step back now and will watch the continued growth of a daughter who has been a running prodigy since she was 3 years old.

It should be a spectacular show.