Follow Lake Region HS sprint/jump star Kate Hall as she blogs about her senior indoor season & the quest to be the best. Hall is one of the top ranked returner long jumper in the US this winter. Her accolades are impressive, she has never lost a state championship race or jump a perfect 20-20 so far. She currently holds Maine State Indoor All-time bests in the 55m, 60m, 200m, & long jump. Outdoors she holds all-time best marks in the 100m, 200m & long jump. Last winter she was the National runner-up in the long jump at the New Balance Indoor Nationals.
Hello everyone!
Well my last indoor season of high school is officially over! And it couldn't have ended in a better way! This past weekend at NBN I competed in the long jump and the 60m. I drove down to New York on Friday with my family, and my grandparents and cousins met us there as well. The day before Nationals is always a special day for me. Not only do I get to spend some amazing time with my whole family at the hotel, but I have that anxious/excited feeling of knowing I'll be competing the next day. When we drove into New York and saw that sign by the armory saying, “Amazing things are happening here," I just got that feeling of gratefulness that I was able to be part of such an unbelievable opportunity.
I know for a fact I got exactly one hour of sleep the night before my events. There were several times that I was laying in bed beginning to fall asleep, but then I would suddenly get nervous and instantly wake up. I fell asleep at 5am and woke up at 6am to run. I was so worried I was going to be too exhausted to function, but I told myself I wasn't going to allow that to happen no matter what.
At 9am I ran the preliminary round of the 60m and set a PR of 7.46. Of course I was very happy, and my dad told me what happened after that didn't matter because I accomplished one of my goals. That was true, but I wasn't there only to set a PR. I wanted to win the long jump.
Later that day after having a short nap, I went back to the track to compete in long jump. I don't think I had ever been so nervous about competing before, but it was a good nervous. I wasn't a nervous that made me shake and feel dizzy like I had experienced in past meets. I hated sitting through the first two flights because it only made my anxiety and anticipation grow. The more my anticipation grew, the more I thought, and the more I thought, the more I knew I wanted to win this more than I've ever wanted anything.
Finally, the last flight was up and I was ready to jump. Being the last jumper, I tried keeping track of everyone's jumps before mine, but I wasn't absolutely sure how far their jumps were in meters. It was probably a good thing for me not to know at first though. My first jump was 19-8, but I was way behind the board. I was fine with that because I knew I could get a much further jump if I moved my mark up slightly. My second mark I hit the board perfectly and when I landed, I heard an eruption of whoops and yells coming from the stands. I figured it must have been good then. When they measured it I couldn't believe I jumped 20-11.25. It was a weird feeling for me, actually. Usually when I jump a PR I'm confident I won and having nothing to worry about, so I can act as happy as I want. However this time, I knew I had some good competition so even though I was overjoyed, I tried not to get my hopes too high just in case. After I jumped 20-11, I was much more relaxed for my other jumps. Finally, I had one more jump left. Courtney Corrin had just jumped 20-7, which officially made me a national champion! I heard my family celebrating in the crowd as I prepared for my final jump. My final jump was 20-10, although I was just barely on the board. If I had the whole board I would have been over 21. Of course, that wasn't my main concern though. I was a national champion and a national meet record holder. Nothing else mattered to me. I was in tears as I excitedly hugged my family after and I had never been happier.
The following day I ran the 60m and came in 6th in the finals. I was just off my PR that I had set the previous day. I wasn't expecting to have the best time of my life considering my knee had been bothering me since long jump. In the end, I was beyond thankful for how everything turned out and I couldn't ask for a better way to end the indoor season.
Lastly, I just want to thank everyone for their endless kindness and support. These past four years have been better than I could have ever imagined and a huge reason of that is due to how friendly the track community here in Maine truly is. I will never be thankful enough for everything you guys have done to shape me into the athlete and person I am today.
