Whenever Divine Child girls track coach Anthony Mifsud forwards an email to his team, his greetings always begin like this: “Hello, fast; happy; healthy; hungry; humble, DC Lady Falcons track and field/cross country team.”

Mifsud said forwards such as these help bring motivation to his team’s efforts on the field. Coaching since 1967, Mifsud had a great smile on his face June 14, when he and his team celebrated a great season–capped by a Division II state championship title–at their end-of-the-season banquet, held at Divine Child.

“I was hoping for the top five and we got that wish by getting in second,” Mifsud said. “We’re excited … last year we won it and this year we were kind of close. It didn’t happen, but runner-up is just as good.”

Mallory Myler, Carolinne Strasser, Liz Mullen and Paige Patterson earned the Falcons a state championship title in both the 800- and 1600-meter relays. The group finished 800 meters in 1:42.41 and 1600 meters in 3:59.67.

The Falcons finished behind Country Day with 44 points. Sophomore Myler said she knows now what it takes to earn the top spot at next year’s finals.

“Country Day is our biggest competitor and they’re really good and they’re all coming back, so we’ll see,” Myler said. “Hopefully I’m going to work a little bit more over the summer, because hurdles are a little more about technique than just being in shape, so I’m going to work on those and hopefully I’ll be more confident.”

According to Mifsud, with the loss of eight graduating seniors this month, the team has lost 37 percent of their overall points (26620).

Strasser, who graduated, plans to pursue track at Lake Superior State while she studies environmental science.

“This year, I took what I learned over the years and with that I just tried to have fun,” Strasser said. “Knowing it’s my last year on the track team as a senior, I just went through with it the best I could.”

Despite losing eight seniors, Mifsud said he is confident that the Falcon’s success will not fall short next season.