Since starting cross country at Jacksonville High School in North Carolina, Kaitlyn Davis has grown as a runner.
More recently, over the summer, she grew in a different way – four inches taller, to be exact.
But that impeded her progress on the race course. The physical change produced knee and illiotibial (IT) band problems that required adjustments.
“She had to take some time off,” Mountain View head coach Dave Davis said. “We had to do things a little differently. We had to make sure her mechanics were proper.”
After an All-Met selection in 2008, Davis was winless for the first eight events of 2009.
But at the Octoberfest Invitational in The Plains, the Wildcat senior won the five-kilometer event while posting a career best time of 18:09.
Following a win earlier this month at the Octoberfest Invitational, Kaitlyn Davis captured victory last weekend in Florida (Photo courtesy of Dave Davis).
Davis needed a late push to pull away from Brooke Point’s Katherine Walker and cross the finish line first.
“It was pretty surreal,” Davis said. “I hadn’t won yet this year and I wasn’t frustrated, but just the time hadn’t come yet.”
That was followed just a few weeks later on Oct. 10 in Florida at the Disney Classic, where she won with a time of 19:00.
Two victories in three events has been the culmination of a long and painful road back to the top.
Davis had been a high-level cross country participant since the start of high school, 10th in the state as a freshman and third as a sophomore.
Both of these stellar seasons took place in North Carolina, before her military family moved north to Stafford. Davis continued her success in Virginia, and after doing taking part in the national outdoor championships in late June, she took a full month off to recuperate.
“I just needed a break,” Davis said.
That’s when most of her growth took place. Although it didn’t affect the amount of training, it did affect her style and the amount of pain inflicted.
“I didn’t realize how much I had grown in that one month,” Davis said. “It was almost that I didn’t remember how to run. I had to fully learn again where my arms needed to be. It was crazy and really frustrating because I felt that I had worked so hard in my junior year that I might not be up to par in my senior year.”
That frustration was evident right from her initial practice runs. Davis attempted to run outside of her house, but the distance runner could only make it three minutes down her local street.
“I told my mom I couldn’t do it,” she said. “It just hurt so bad. The pain was excruciating. My bones were grinding. I didn’t feel good at all.”
Davis then started to replay the goals she had set out this senior season both individually and from a team perspective.
“Winning state championships, districts, regionals. All these things flashed before me,” she said. “That made me think, there’s no way I’m going to give in to this.”
That ability to push through the pain and her determination is what her coach cites as the main reason for her recent performances and the capability to remain at the top of her game.
“She works at it really well,” Dave Davis said. “But her intensity is what makes her a great distance runner. She just wants to be good.”
Mountain View’s runners, including Davis, are now preparing for the Commonwealth District Championship meet at Willowmere on Oct. 29.
Comments: