Collins goes after a perfect finish

Darcy Collins has already established herself as the Queen of State 1A track.

All the Kootenai High senior standout can do when the state meet begins today and concludes Saturday in Boise is add more jewels to an already crowded crown.

No female athlete has won more individual gold medals than Collins since the inception of the 1A meet in 1994. She’s won all nine events of her own – three titles each in the high jump and 300-meter hurdles, two in the 100 hurdles and one in the 200 – and ran legs on two winning relays. The next closest competitor won seven.

She’s never tasted anything less than victory.

Even with all the personal success and the frequent climbs atop the podium to collect gold medals, there’s something more significant that she will miss when she reflects on her high school days years from now. It’s the seven-hour bus rides with her friends.

Gold medals fade over time, but friendships can last a lifetime.

“I’ve loved hanging out with my teammates and the bus rides to state,” Collins said. “That’s one of the most enjoyable parts.”

That doesn’t surprise her coach, Shannon LaFountaine.

“She keeps things in perspective,” LaFountaine said. “The camaraderie she has with her teammates is phenomenal.”

Collins plans to make the most of her final bus ride to state. Kootenai will seek a fifth consecutive state title, matching a stretch by Raft River that the Warriors snapped when they began their run in 2001.

The chase for a fifth title shapes up to be as tight as last year. Collins and four other teammates accounted for Kootenai’s 78 points last year. As it turned out, the Warriors needed every point as they slipped past Region I rival Prairie by a point.

Kootenai senior Nikita Amy returns to try and defend her state title in the discus (she also placed fifth in the shot); senior Jordan Kincheloe and junior Stephanie Blackburn finished 1-2 in the pole vault and are favored to do so again; and junior Kendra Willms was third in the high jump.

If the battle for the team title is like last year, it could come down to Collins’ final event, the 200.

Last year at state, Prairie – which knocked off Kootenai at regionals last week – led by a point going into the 200. Collins knew what she had to do. She broke away from Nicole Nida of Prairie to win by half a second.

Nida turned the tables at regionals, beating Collins.

“It’s pretty hard not to be concerned when you get beat at regionals,” Collins admitted. “I was pretty tired and was just coming off the 300 hurdles. At state there’s a longer break between the events than at regionals.”

So Collins is gearing up for a showdown.

Collins, who has signed a letter of intent with the University of Idaho, feels like she’s finally rounding into competition shape after a slow start to the season. Kootenai’s first meet was canceled because of rain, and she said she wasn’t physically or mentally ready to compete when she went to the Pasco Invite.

She hopes to break at least three of the four state-meet records she holds. She hasn’t found her pace in the 300 hurdles, and probably won’t be challenged in the event since she won by more than 4 seconds last year.

Her chief focus, though, is on the team, not herself.

“It’s really important to me that the team wins,” Collins said. “That’s my main goal.”