The pressure used to be so intense that Olivia DeTroyer could barely stand it. She was the only one applying it, but it was unbearable nonetheless.

After a race, DeTroyer would be so overcome with emotion, she would break down and cry. And those were races she was winning.

“I just get so worked up, I really want to do well and give every race my all and it gets overwhelming at times,” DeTroyer said. “It’s just a flood of emotions, and then you finally get what you wanted.”

After winning the Division 2 state championship in the 400-meter dash as a sophomore, her nerves only worsened. As the state champ, DeTroyer felt enormous pressure to perform at the peak of her abilities in every race. Every time she stepped on the track, she felt like all eyes were on her to perform like a state champ should.

Self-imposed pressure is more the rule than the exception for elite athletes, but DeTroyer’s had gotten to a point where it was counterproductive.

“After I won my sophomore year, the nerves were unbearable, the pressure was so great” DeTroyer recalls. “It became the bad kind of nerves for a while.”

DeTroyer’s teammates talked her through it. The one who seemed invincible on the track - the one you would assume needed the least help of all - needed it the most.

DeTroyer’s coach walked her through it. The one whose speed and talent would make instruction seem almost pointless, needed the most guidance of all.

“She’d get so nervous before meets, you just didn’t know how she would perform,” said Chelsea coach Pat Clarke. “I just learned to take her for a walk and calm her down.”

Those walks and talks apparently worked, and DeTroyer said she is infinitely grateful for her coach and teammates’ kindness. She repeated as state champion in the 400 as a junior and - though she fell short of a three-peat her senior year (placing fifth) -- finished her career as the most decorated girls track athlete in Chelsea High School history with 11 all-state medals.

Of the 11 state championship races in which she placed, it’s not the two individual titles that DeTroyer is most proud of. Rather, it’s the two relay titles (800 and 1,600) that she and her teammates won this past year. In the 1,600 relay, DeTroyer and her teammates managed to win from the second heat, a rare feat at the state championship level.

DeTroyer’s teammates helped her through her toughest times as a competitor, and she returned the favor with a personal-best split from the anchor position to put the Bulldogs in first.

“Winning with my teammates, it was 10 times better (than winning as an individual),” DeTroyer said. “I loved winning the 400, obviously, but it was so much better to share it with people.”

Pete Cunningham is a sportswriter for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached by e-mail at petercunningham@annarbor.com or by phone at 734-623-2561. Follow him on Twitter @petcunningham.