Don't expect Ashley Hubbard to cruise to the finish line of the 400-meter dash at tomorrow's Class B Championships. Hubbard will save nothing when the gun goes off and she breaks from the blocks on the Westford Academy track.

With the All-State meet being held in Holyoke on June 5 - the same day as Marshfield High's graduation - it's logistically impossible for Hubbard to defend her 400 state title and make it back from western Mass. in time to receive her diploma. The decision was a tough one to make, but Hubbard has opted to attend graduation.

And that spells bad news for the Class B 400-meter field who will have to deal with Hubbard's no-holds-barred approach. Save for the adidas outdoor championships at North Carolina State in mid-June, Saturday marks the biggest race of the season for Hubbard, who also won the indoor 300-meter dash state title in the fourth-fastest time ever run by a Massachusetts schoolgirl (39.72). Hubbard has every intention of making an all-out assault on her personal best of 55.7 (she has run a 55.0 split in a relay).

‘‘I've been dying to run a 54-second 400 meters,'' said Hubbard, whose track and field career moves to the collegiate level in September when she heads to Georgetown University. ‘‘That's my main goal heading into this meet.''

As has been the case at nearly every meet this season, Hubbard's parents, Jeff and Leslie, and 10-year-old sister Jocelyn, will be in the stands cheering both her and younger brother Casey on. Casey, a sophomore on the boys' squad, will be a definite force the next couple of years, judging by his personal best of 51 and change in the 400.

Hubbard said it's good to know her family is in the stands when she's racing.

‘‘They love coming to the meets to watch my brother and I run,'' she said. ‘‘It's great to have that support every race.''

As good a track athlete as Hubbard is, Georgetown didn't offer her a full scholarship based solely on her athletic ability on the track or in the long jump pit, where she is among the best from the South Shore. An honor roll student and member of the National Honor Society, the Patriot Ledger All-Scholastic field hockey selection maintained high grades in all her Advanced Placement classes to draw the university's notice.

‘‘The coaches put just as much as an emphasis on us to keep our grades up,'' she said.

Balancing the work necessary to become a state champion and a stellar student has been an ongoing juggling act the past two years for Hubbard. She simply took it all in stride.

‘‘It's just something you have to deal with if you do a sport,'' Hubbard said. ‘‘You have to manage your time. If you procrastinate at all, you'll pay for it.''

Procrastinating was never an option for Hubbard, not when you return late from Old Colony League meets in Barnstable. And not when Saturday meets, for the most part, are all-day affairs.

‘‘You're talking 11 p.m. before you get settled down,'' she said of returning home after a meet on Cape Cod. ‘‘The last thing you want is to come home and have a ton of home work to do.''

It's safe to say Hubbard has long since learned how to manage her time. She dives into her homework during study periods and also tries to get a head start if she knows she has a project due later in the week.

Hubbard believes she's well prepared to make the jump from the high school to collegiate track. The fall will be dedicated to building a distance base and strength work through core and weight training. Hubbard has already seen what core training (push-ups, sit-ups) has done to improve her performances on the track this year.

She looks markedly stronger than she did her sophomore and junior year, and found it to make a big difference in the closing 100 meters.

Mentally, Hubbard knows she's much stronger than she was when she was an underclassman.

‘‘Just because of experience, I have more confidence,'' she said. ‘‘I'd completely freeze up going into the state meet. I felt a little overwhelmed as a freshman.

‘‘Now I see things on a more broad, national scale. It got to the point where I was much more relaxed at the All-State meet.''

Marshfield girls coach Larry Nangle remembers how quickly Hubbard became comfortable with the sport and that she looked to be a natural talent.

‘‘We didn't know that much about her and didn't know where we'd put her,'' said Nangle. ‘‘But we knew she had good speed. ‘‘We put Ashley in the 200. As the season went on she kept improving and we knew we had a find there.

‘‘She worked hard at it and progressed rapidly. She's a super kid. Everything she accomplished she deserves.''

With 10 school records to her credit, Hubbard firmly established herself as the best track athlete, male or female, in Marshfield High history. Hubbard, though, hopes her accomplishments, and those of her teammates who captured the indoor state title, help keep the Rams' track program strong in the coming years.

‘‘My whole grade has really increased the popularity of track in the school,'' she said. ‘‘Over the past couple of years the juniors and seniors have helped built the program. The young kids should know they have the strength to maintain that.

‘‘It's possible for a few athletes to motivate others.''

Ashley Hubbard

Indoor track

• 2003, 2004 300-meter dash state champion
• 2004 State, New England champion 4x400-meter relay
• 2003, 2004, U.S. Nationals 8th in 400-meter dash

Outdoor track

• 2003 State champion 400-meter dash

Personal bests

Indoor track: 300: 39.72, 400: 55.8, Long jump: 18-1, 4x200-meter relay: 1:45.29, 4x400-meter relay: 3:53

Outdoor track: 200: 24.9, 400: 55.7, Long jump: 17-10.5 4x100: 49.77, 4x400: 4:02