MV’s Kaitlyn Wayne finishes prep career with three state titles

PHOENIX

Even though she possesses natural talent, Monument Valley’s Kaitlyn Wayne knew she had to push herself beyond her limits.

And while she had the credentials to compete with the state’s best, Wayne felt that she needed to go that extra mile since it was hard for her to gauge her place with the rest of her peers around the state.

“Where I come from, the competition is not the best so you have to keep pushing yourself,” the Monument Valley track star said. “I had to keep pushing myself at practice even when I felt like I can’t go on. I kept telling myself that I needed to keep pushing if I wanted to win a state title.”

Because of her sheer determination, Wayne finished the Arizona Division III state track meet with three gold medals as she set new personal records.

On March 8, Wayne surpassed her previous best in the long jump by 17 inches with an 18-feet, 6.25-inch effort.

“My first attempt I scratched and my coach told me not to put my head down so I shook it off,” Wayne said. “I ended up jumping over 18 feet and that really surprised me because I had yet to jump 17 feet yet.”

On that same day, Wayne qualified for the finals in both the 100- and 300- hurdles. Needless to say, she was a little disappointed because she felt that she could have done better.

“I was not in the fast lane for both of my races,” she said.

That didn’t seem to matter as Wayne won the 100 hurdles with a blistering time of 15.57 seconds. That mark bettered her previous best by seven-tenth of a second.

“I knew that I could have done better in the prelims so I told myself that I was going to break 15,” she said.

A few hours later, Wayne completed her trifecta by claiming the 300 hurdles with a time of 46.58 seconds, which bettered her 47.82 qualifying mark she set during the regular season.

“I just pushed those aside and I concentrated on the 300s,” Wayne said, when asked how hard it was to prepare for her final event after winning two events.

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