Leaving tradition behind in dust
Anna Walters is well aware that on the tracks and trails around Spokane her family name is synonymous with distance running.
But the North Central senior didn’t just run away from tradition, she sprinted from it – laughing all the way.
“I’m the black sheep of the family,” she said, breaking into a huge smile.
Her Hall of Fame grandfather Tracy Walters was the coach of Rogers distance champion Gerry Lindgren, and her father, Kelly, the NC boys track coach, was part of Mead’s distance legacy in his youth.
But Anna is a state-placing sprinter on the Indians track team and, to add insult to injury, in the fall she didn’t run cross country – she played volleyball.
“We tried to make Anna a distance runner, but she found out she could beat everybody in short distances and she didn’t have to throw up afterward,” her father deadpanned. “We’ve joked with her she’s kind of a disappointment. Blame it on my wife – she was sprinter in junior high. She can’t do distance, but at least she can do something. Hey, she ran an 800 in our jamboree.”
Anna enjoys the banter, claiming she gets the last laugh, and not because she was second in the State 3A 400 meters last spring.
“I know my dad’s first love is distance and that whole thing with my grandpa,” she said. “But because I found success in sprinting and I found success in volleyball instead of cross country, they’re proud of it. They joke with me and I joke back.
“I can’t recall my best line, but I’ve had some pretty good ones.”
Now, however, it’s time to get serious.
NC was second in state last year and hopes to contend again with most of the points back.
“The girls are really excited,” NC coach Darren Nelson said. “You look at things, of course you have to get there healthy, (but) we’re hoping.”
Senior Ashlee Michelson, the school record holder in the discus, was second at state and made state in shot put. Junior Mary Graesser placed in both long distances and seniors Kendall Mays and Krista Hoffman placed top six in the pole vault.
Walters, in her first state appearance, was also eighth in the 200 and anchored the fifth-place 1,600 relay team.
Only the third-fastest sprinter at Salk Middle School, Walters tried multiple events when she reached NC, including hurdles. She ran 65 seconds in the 400, well shy of the 57.9 she clocked last year, a time she was about to eclipse in the state final before she fell apart down the stretch and collapsed at the finish line.
“There was a huge difference between her sophomore and junior year,” Nelson said. “She worked out like crazy. … She totally committed herself and that was it.”
Walters, who plans to run in college and continue the family teaching tradition, would like to run faster and erase the memory of that 400 finish, which didn’t prove serious when she came back for the 200 final. But mostly she wants to seize the role of senior leader.
“Last year it was more, ‘I want to go to state, I want to get a certain time,’ ” she said. “My goals are a little different this year. I want set an example and achieve what I can do.
“With the way the season ended last year … it was kind of hard with me collapsing at the end. Afterward it was hard to concentrate. I didn’t want to be back on the track. It took a while for me to realize God gave me this gift, how can I use it? I still have those (individual) goals, but as a senior I realize these girls look up to me. I want to work hard, be as good as I can be.”
That’s no joke.