-
Branford’s Nathalia Veal (middle) is the LCR’s Girls Track & Field Athlete of the Year. (COURTESY)
BRANFORD — Nathalia Veal had no doubts: 2020 was going to be her time to shine.
So when covid-19 wiped out most of the track & field season, the then-Branford sophomore was disappointed.
But that disappointment just fed the motivation to make sure her junior campaign was one to remember.
It certainly was as she set school records in the 100m hurdles (15.65) and the pole vault (3.15m). She also swept district and region titles in the 100 hurdles, the 300 hurdles and the pole vault and then capped off her season with medals in all three at state, finishing fourth in both the 100 hurdles and the pole vault and eighth in the 300 hurdles, where she is second in school history. Her time of 48.24 is just one second behind the mark of Logan Boss, who went on to compete in the high jump at Mississippi State.
The season to remember was more than enough to also make Veal the Lake City Reporter’s Girls Track & Field Athlete of the Year.
“I knew coming up into my junior year that I really had to make every meet count and push every meet,” she said after losing her sophomore season. “Really run every race like it was the last because this is the year for recruiting and coming up on senior year.
“I really didn’t have a lot of chances left to really run my best and give it my all. So I tried to do that every race.”
She did more than just give it her best in every race. That maximum effort has also been a constant in practice and workouts.
In fact, Tim Clark, the Branford boys track coach who also worked with Veal in her events, said Veal would sometimes be pushing him to workout, like during spring break.
That dedication to the craft surfaced again leading up to the state meet when spring practice started, taking away some of Clark’s attention.
“She’s getting on me that we’re not going to train any less because football has started,” Clark said laughing, adding that they’d train before school and then Veal would return to the track in the afternoons for additional work while the football team was practicing as well. “She’s just one of those that’s a joy to coach because she just wants to work.
“Her work ethic is the bottom line with her. It’s second to none.”
It’s been needed to get Veal to where she is from where she was when she first joined the track team as a sixth grader.
Clark said it wasn’t clear then that Veal would become a star pupil.
Veal was a little more blunt.
“I wasn’t really good,” she said, adding she stopped running the 100 hurdles for a few years because of how slow her times were.
But a couple years ago she saw a teammate at practice learning how to three-step, a technique in which runners need just three steps in between every hurdle that is the key to becoming competitive. Veal, who was taller, figured she should be able to three step as well.
Three tries later, she hit it and hasn’t stopped running or clearing those obstacles since.
“When she was able to hit that one day in practice, I said, ‘Shoot, we oughta focus on this a little bit,’” Clark said.
That focus has meant mastering the technique and form, which he said has been accomplished, noting “it’s that textbook.”
Pole vault, which Veal said is her favorite event, is also a technical event. That also appeals to Veal, who admitted that in weightlifting she also prefers the clean and jerk, which requires more technique than the bench.
“I just like learning how everything works and how I can use different techniques and ways to get better and not having to use, like in weightlifting, I don’t have to use as much strength as somebody else if I have better technique,” she said. “So I try to get down the technique and perfect that and then I can keep moving up.”
She’s been moving up in the pole vault as well, setting the school record and then tying it again this past year.
Entranced by watching some other athletes pole vaulting that sixth grade year, Veal was on board with it. She wanted to try it.
“It looked so fun to me,” she said. “They were going so high…It looked so fun to me, how they were getting around the bar and flying.”
So when the coaches asked who was interested, Veal was among those who volunteered.
Even though she, again, admittedly “wasn’t really good at it,” Veal stuck with it. And when she qualified for regionals that year, she was hooked.
She still is.
“It’s such a great feeling, especially when you catch the ride which is where everything happens just right,” she said. “It’s an indescribable feeling unless you’ve done it before. It’s so fun to just fly over the bar and once you’ve made the bar and see it still up there, it’s hard to explain.”
It’s easy to explain the improvement Veal has made since then.
For starters, she is now pole vaulting left-handed, something she didn’t do as a sixth grader. Clark said Veal, who is a cousin of his wife, Erin, the girls track coach, was so shy she didn’t tell him then that she wasn’t right-handed.
That took a whole year for her to work up the courage to tell him, so they could flop everything for her and let her go to work.
“That’s really the reason for her greatness,” Clark said about her work ethic. “She wasn’t one that you’d look at and think, ‘Hey, when this kid is a junior, she’ll be a phenom.’ But she’s just worked herself into that position.”
ALL-AREA TEAM
Nathalia Veal
Branford, junior
The LCR’s Girls Track & Field Athlete of the Year swept Region 2-1A titles and District 5-1A titles in the 100m hurdles, 300m hurdles and pole vault before medaling in all three events at the Class 1A state meet. She placed fourth in the 100 hurdles in Class 1A with a new school record (15.65), fourth in the pole vault to tie her school record (3.15m) and eighth in the 300 hurdles (48.49). Also competed at regionals in the 4x400 relay after helping Branford’s 4x100 relay team place second at districts to qualify for regionals. Her other victories on the year include wins in the pole vault at the Santa Fe Mini Meet, Oak Hall Mini Meet, Chiefland Home Meet, Rider Invitational and Santa Fe’s Last Chance Meet; wins in the 100 and 300 hurdles at Chiefland Home Meet, Lafayette Mini Meet; and another win in the 300 hurdles at Santa Fe’s Last Chance Meet.
Kay’lyona Cuffy
Suwannee, freshman
Won the District 2-2A title in the shot put (10.07m).
Anndersn Fuller
Fort White, 7th grade
Won the District 5-2A title in the 800m (2:35.20).
Zamaria Granado
Branford, junior
Won the District 5-1A title in the triple jump (10.43m) and then placed fifth in Region 2-1A to qualify for state. Also made it to regionals in the 100 hurdles and 4x100 relay, placing third and second at districts respectively.
Mon’taysia Jones
Suwannee, senior
Was a state qualifier in the high jump after winning the District 2-2A title (1.52m) and placing third in Region 1-2A (1.62m). She also won a district championship in the 4x400 relay, placed second at districts in the triple jump and third in the 400m to qualify for regionals in three more events.
Dariniya Martin
Suwannee, junior
Was a state qualifier in the 100 hurdles and triple jump, winning District 2-2A titles in both events before placing second in the triple jump and third in the 110 hurdles in Region 1-2A. She also won a district title in the 4x400 relay and took bronze in both the high jump and 300 hurdles to qualify for regionals in three more events.
Madison McMillan
Suwannee, freshman
Won the District 2-2A title in the pole vault (6 feet, 6 inches) and was also a regional qualifier in the 1600m and 4x800 relay.
Jessie Sikes
Branford, junior
Won the District 5-1A title in the high jump with a personal-best 1.52m and placed fourth in Region 2-1A to qualify for the Class 1A state meet, where she finished 10th. She also qualified for regionals in the javelin following a silver medal at districts.
Hiliyah Walker
Suwannee, junior
Won the District 2-2A titles in the long jump (4.98m), 4x100 relay (50.90) and 4x400 relay (4:16.06).
V’Kaylynn Ward
Suwannee, junior
Won District 2-2A titles in the 300 hurdles (48.24 seconds), 4x100 relay (50.90) and 4x400 relay (4:16.06). She also placed third in the 100 hurdles and long jump to qualify for regionals in two more events.
COACH OF THE YEAR
Kevin Lewis, Suwannee
Lewis led the Bulldogs to their first district title since 2014, with district crowns in nine events. Ten Bulldogs competed in 13 individual events at regionals and all three relays team qualified for the region meet as well. From there, two individuals qualified for state in three events.