National Scholastic Athletics Foundation

Kate Hall's Road to NBNI Blogs, Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4

Photos: NBNI long jump photo by Vic Sailer, Photorun.net; awards photo and family/coach photo submitted by Kate Hall.

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 NBNI 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 lying 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 left.  Courtney Corrin had just jumped 20-7, and since I was the last competitor, I was officially 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.

For those of you who went to NBNI, I hope it went well!  Good luck to everyone in outdoor!