Former Comet runner McKayla Cole to wear UNI purple as Junior Nationals qualfier

By John Burbridge sports@charlescitypress.com

McKayla Cole no longer runs with her class.

But she still plans to walk with it.

“Yes, I’m going to be a part of it,” Cole said of Charles City’s graduation ceremony to take place his weekend. “I’m going to walk with my class when they hand out the diplomas.”

Cole earned her diploma months before when she graduated a semester early. Her final athletic feat of her Comet career, which included multiple medal placing performances at both the state cross country and track championship, was a second-place showing at the 2016 Iowa High School Cross Country Championships — a best-ever finish for a Comet girl that helped Charles City place third as a team … another historic best for the school.

In addition to champion Adrianna Katcher from Center Point-Urbana, Cole ran against a highly competitive field that included Assumption’s Julia Schumacher — the champion from the year before — and Joy Ripslinger, who recently made history at the State Track and Field Championships when she won four running events.

If Cole had decided to run her senior year in track, it would have no doubt made things more interesting at the state meet. But she decided to get a head start on her college career and immediately enrolled at the University of Northern Iowa where she is majoring in elementary education.

Cole has just completed her red-shirt freshman season with the Panthers’ track team.

“I could run in the meets unattached, but I wasn’t allowed to wear the UNI uniform,” Cole said.

During a 5K race at Loras College in Dubuque, Cole dropped a whopping 18 seconds off her previous personal-best with a time of 17 minutes, 32 seconds.

The effort qualified her to the USA Track and Field 2017 Outdoor Junior Nationals to take place June 22-25 in Sacramento, Calif.

“I’ve never been to California before,” Cole said.

Not only is Cole excited to run on the West Coast, at the Junior Nationals she will be allowed to wear a Panther uniform for the first time.

“It will be nice to run while finally representing my school,” Cole said.

While running and training with UNI, Cole has also dropped time in the 1,500 (9-second improvement) and the 3,000 (17-second improvement).

“It’s the intensity of the training down there,” Cole said. “You’re also required to put in more extra training on your own.”