Very, very sad news. Mary was such an upbeat, optimistic, spunky, just-plain-fun girl. All of which belied an unbelievable desire to win. Once she started to race, look out--she had gears that would usually go unused, but, every now and then, when needed, she would tap into them and just fly.
I wish I could remember some of the placings at some of the Big 10 meets she and Gordy and Suzy and others were in. Where they would go 1-2-4 in one race, and 1-2-3-4 in another, and 2-3-5-6 in another, plus a relay. And then there would be Day 2! Distance domination!!!
My personal favorite Mary story was from the NCAA CC meet in 1990, at Knoxville. I had driven down solo. At one point fairly early in the race, Suzy and Mary were running in the lead. They both appeared a little surprised to find themselves there. Towards the end of the race, Suzy was maintaining pretty well, but Mary was in trouble. CC was not exactly her favorite, as she considered herself to be a middle-distance runner, and 5,000m was becoming problematic for her. I was at a point on the course where no one else was, and yelled encouragement to Suzy, who didn't look like she needed it. Mary was clearly struggling, and, as I started to yell at her as she approached, she put her palms up in the air and said in an anguished voice: "Where am I?" I thought for a split second, and then answered, "Just a half-mile to go, Mary. Just a half-mile. You're doing great. Look ahead!"
Mary hung on for 5th! (Suzy was 2nd? or 3rd? or 4th?)(Sonia O'Sullivan won, then repeated the next year). Afterwards, as Mary sprawled exhausted in the team area, when I told her that no athlete had ever talked to me before whilst running in an NCAA championship, she exclaimed that, "Ugh--I felt so bad. You know, I'm not really a CC runner, I'm really just an 800 runner, so when you said a half-mile to go, that was perfect for me!" I replied with a smile, "I know." To which she replied, "Oh, that's right, you do know that! I'm just so glad it's over. Thank you!"
Mary Hartzheim. One of a kind.
My condolences to Gordy and her family.