Prep track notebook: CdA’s Kaitlyn Gunnerson hurdles toward records

Kaitlyn Gunnerson is running for times this spring.

The Coeur d’Alene senior naturally wants to defend her state championship in the 100-meter hurdles and capture a title in the 300 that she narrowly missed in a photo finish that required officials to spend 10 minutes deciding a winner.

The more she lowers her personal bests, the more scholarship money she earns from Brigham Young University, where she plans to attend.

Gunnerson is teeming with motivation. Within her reach are school and state records.

“I really want to test my limits,” Gunnerson said.

She’s off to a start that would rival the former Coeur d’Alene hurdler she’s chasing, Morgan Struble.

Three years ago, Struble, who is competing at the University of Arizona, set school records in both events in her final state meet. She clocked 14.40 seconds in the 100, taking second, and captured the title in the 300 with a state-meet record 42.84.

Gunnerson is out to leave her mark at CdA.

“Kaitlyn is running faster at this time her senior year than Morgan did,” Vikings coach Linda Lanker said. “She’s on fire.”

Gunnerson lowered her personal best in the 300 with a 44.55 at the Christina Finney Relays at Post Falls in late March. Her previous best, 44.72, came at state last year. Her all-time best in the 100, 14.63, came at state last spring.

Considering state is more than 5 weeks away, it stands to reason Gunnerson will have plenty of opportunity to lower her times.

Her goals are 14.2 in the 100 and low 42s in the 300. If she finishes near those times, it’s likely she’ll put her name in the school record book.

Gunnerson said her times should continue to improve in the 300 because she’s finally listening to her coach.

“Linda has been telling me for four years that I need to start faster and be aggressive in the 300s,” Gunnerson said. “I always struggled getting out fast because I feared I wouldn’t have any energy at the end.

“I went out fast at the Finney Relays and I actually had lots of energy left.”

The result was she chopped more than 4 seconds off times she was running year after year.

“That was the one thing I worked with Morgan on a lot,” Lanker said of faster starts. “We’ve been practicing getting out of the blocks and getting to the first hurdle faster.”

In the next week, Gunnerson will start doing practice drills designed to work on speed. So far she’s been working mostly on technique.

“Teaching her how to get out at the beginning of the race has changed everything for her,” Lanker said.

Gunnerson also runs legs on the 400 and 1,600 relays. She’s gone to state in both events each year, with the 1,600 relay taking second each year.

Lanker remembers watching Gunnerson in middle school when she was in eighth grade doing hurdles for the first time.

Gunnerson, whose first two years in middle school were spent doing distance races, naturally took to the hurdles, even at a young age.

It showed her freshman year. She qualified for state in both events, finishing sixth in the 300 and seventh in the 100. As a sophomore, she also qualified in both, placing third in the 100 and sixth in the 300.

Gunnerson gives all the credit to Lanker, an accomplished hurdler back in the day.

“She’s meant everything to me,” said Gunnerson, who carries a weighted 4.2 grade-point average. “My success is because of her. She’s always motivated me. She grabbed me in eighth grade, and I wouldn’t be where I am without her. She knows what she’s talking about. I trust her workouts 100 percent.”

Gunnerson will be out to win both races at the Pasco Invite on April 18. She was victorious in the 100 last year.

“I love her dedication and work ethic,” Lanker said. “It’s going to be fun to see what she does once we start hitting speed work.”

Early results

Before the calendar turned to April, several area athletes put up impressive times and marks.

Here is a sampling of the top feats at this point:

• Jakobe Ford, a sophomore at Shadle Park who transferred from Central Valley, vaulted 6 feet, 9 inches in the high jump – 2 inches higher than his personal best a year ago. He’s tied for second overall in the state.

• Trevor Payne of Mt. Spokane leads the state in the discus (172 feet, 11 inches).

• Sofia Pizzilo of Shadle has run 12.57 in the 100 hurdles and 25.86 in the 200 – hundredths of a second off personal bests from a year ago.

• Mac Baxter of West Valley has clocked 38.54 in the 300 hurdles.

• Jackie Mahowald of Lakeside (Nine Mile Falls) leaped 17-0 in the long jump.

• Jalen Hicks of Ferris has gone a personal-best 22-5½ in the long jump.

• Aaron Obert of Deer Park pushed the shot put 55-11, exceeding his best from last year.

• Matthew Coelho of Ferris cleared 14-6 in the pole vault.

This ‘n’ that

University was scheduled to take part in the Greater Spokane League-opening meet at Shadle Park last week with matchups against the Highlanders, Mt. Spokane and Ferris. But U-Hi athletes were in lockdown at the school because of a bomb scare. The Titans will see Mt. Spokane and Ferris at other regularly scheduled stops but will take on Shadle Park in a date to be determined in early May. … Long-distance standout Lauren Dunnell of Shadle, fifth in state in the 3,200 last year and sixth in cross country, is headed to Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tennessee, where she will join former teammate Kendra Weitz.