Boys track: Family situation has Keenan Kuntz on the run to continue family legacy at Mead

At this time last spring, Keenan Kuntz and the West Valley football team had completed a shortened spring season, going undefeated in five games and coming away with another 2A league title.

In any normal high school sports year, athletes would have some downtime after the conclusion of the previous season. In a year still affected by COVID and the delay of traditional fall and winter sports seasons, however, all sports were pushed back by the state’s governing board to start in late February.

That meant the three high school sports seasons would go on in span of five months. There was no rest for Kuntz once football ended – it was straight into track.

“I kind of just got thrown into everything after coming in straight from football season,” Kuntz said. “There wasn’t a whole lot of time to get ready for our first track meet and it was just go, go, go.”

Kuntz took full advantage of his limited opportunities and showed what he could bring to the table as a young sprinter.

Among all Greater Spokane League sprinters, Kuntz was No. 1 in the 100- and 200-meter dashes. He won GSL 2A titles in both of those events, as well as the 4x100-meter relay at the culminating championship meet, leading the Eagles to a second-place team finish.

Yet, there were still some disappointments.

“I felt I really didn’t compete up to the standards I wanted to hold myself to,” he said.

After posting times of 10.74 seconds in the 100 and 22.25 in the 200, Kuntz sought out more chances after the high school season to compete against faster competition with Spokane’s local track club, Spokane Speed Academy.

Kuntz got his opportunity in August when he went to Houston to race at the AAU National Junior Olympic Games.

“It was different because I hadn’t been around guys that quick before,” Kuntz said. “As a sophomore, it was pretty nerve-racking when I got there, and I wasn’t prepared for the amount of sprinters that were crazy fast.”

Competing in the 100 and 200, Kuntz managed to run lifetime bests of 10.63 and 21.67 and earned himself All-American honors by placing fourth in the finals of the 100. Both those marks placed him in the top five in the state that season.

Just weeks after racing, the new school year at West Valley began and all students were finally back learning in person. The traditional fall football season came and went without a hitch.

Everything was getting back to normal until spring rolled around, when Kuntz needed to make adjustments on the fly again.

Two months ago, Kuntz and his family moved from West Valley into the Mead School

District, where they would be closer to family – more specifically, closer to his grandfather, who suffers from a form of Alzheimer’s.

“We want to be around him as much as we can for the time he’s got left,” Kuntz said. “But also, along with being close to my grandparents, my aunts and uncles are up here, so I kind of want to be close to them too.”

That meant a switch of schools. Kuntz transferred from West Valley to Mead.

Kuntz is the newest face on Mead’s track team this spring, but the legacy he carries makes him no stranger to the Mead running community. Kuntz’s father, Greg, ran for Pat Tyson during the start of Panthers’ historic dynasty run in the late 1980s. Greg Kuntz was part of Mead’s national championship team in 1988.

While his father helped the distance program rise into a perennial powerhouse, the younger Kuntz hopes he can have the same impact on his own track team.

“I know they had a long dynasty and there were some legit guys,” Kuntz said. “Coming to Mead, I’m trying to live up to that and I want to help rebuild this track program to get it back to what it once was.”

Kuntz knows it won’t just take his efforts alone. He has belief everyone around him can contribute in some fashion to ensure team success.

“I know I’m a junior and I’ve got a lot growing to do, but I feel like I can really step and help this team,” he said.

“It’s not just me, but we got a ton of talent and especially guys who haven’t broken out yet that could put up some good numbers.”