BRANFORD — As they took aim at one final Branford school record, coach Tim Clark took an unusual step.
Clark told senior Nathalia Veal, the Buccaneers’ triple medalist from the 2021 Class 1A state meet, that her speed had peaked two years ago.
It wasn’t meant as an insult, but that didn’t mean Veal didn’t take it that way.
“It kind of hurt my feelings a little bit that he would say that,” said Veal, the Lake City Reporter’s Girls Track & Field Athlete of the Year for the second straight season after she again brought home three medals at the state meet. “I took it as that was the fastest I was ever going to be and I wasn’t going to improve. That’s not what he meant but I took it as motivation from that point like, ‘Well, I will show you. I can be better than I was before.’”
Mission accomplished.
With that extra motivation and a change to her training focused on that school mark in the 300m hurdles, Veal ended her high school career better than she was before.
In repeating as a triple medalist, Veal set new school and personal records in the 100m hurdles at the state meet, placing fourth in a time of 15.47 seconds; finally got that 300 mark in the region meet with a time of 46.8 before placing seventh at state in 46.89; and improved her best in the pole vault by a foot as she posted her best jump of 3.45m at the Florida Relays. She placed fourth at state with a vault of 3.3m.
“I knew 100% it was going to make her mad,” Clark said with a laugh about his comment. “Immediately she took it to the extreme, ‘So you think I’m not going to get any better, I’m not going to be good anymore.’”
That wasn’t what Clark was saying or meaning.
Instead, he said he believed she had long ago maxed out her top-end sprinting speed. While she is one of the state’s best in the 100m hurdles, Clark said Veal would never finish near the front of the pack in the 100m. But, she had nearly perfected her form in clearing the hurdles.
“I said, ‘Look Nat, it’s actually a compliment because most girls never do that in their career because they just don’t work hard enough,’” he recalled. “She truly worked hard enough that I think for her biological potential, she had maxed her speed.”
So as the season progressed, Clark didn’t think focusing workouts on sprints geared toward the high-hurdle race was the right thing to do. Likewise, he said her form in both hurdles was good enough that there wasn’t much time to be gained there either.
What they could do, though, was start training Veal like a middle distance runner to improve her stamina for the 300 hurdles.
Workouts became a bunch of running 400 and 800 meters. There was even some 400 meters with the hurdles.
“When he said that I knew it was going to be hard, the workouts were going to be tougher than I was used to,” Veal said. “But he had gotten me to this point so I just trusted his plan. I knew whatever he gave to me would work out, so I was game for any workout he gave me.”
With the buy in from Veal, the training change paid off at the end of the season.
That last record, the one that had escaped her grasp for the past six years: 47.23 in the 300 hurdles by Logan Boss, who went on to run at Mississippi State, in 2014 finally fell. At the Region 2-1A meet, Veal finally got her time of 46.80.
“It was such a great feeling, I had been working on that since middle school,” Veal said. “Just wanting it so long and it was a hard one to get. Out of all of mine, it was the hardest one. That really motivated me to push get better for that.”
There was some extra motivation for that record too. This spring was the last year for FHSAA schools to compete in the 300 hurdles. It is being retired and will be replaced by the 400 hurdles.
Breaking the record meant it would be Veal’s for good.
To get there, though, Clark had one more bit of advice.
With all the over distance training Veal had done, Clark wanted her to rely on that and stop holding back at the start of the race.
“I finally told her, ‘Nat, you just need to go. You’re on the 4x400 relay, we’ve worked on your stamina, you just need to try and sprint the whole dang thing.’”
In the pole vault, though, there weren’t any magic words from Clark that could help push Veal to where she needed to go: higher than she ever had before.
Rather, he said to reach new heights, Veal, like all “elite” pole vaulters, had to find that mental switch to let her flip over and invert.
They had worked on drills in practice, including placing bars several feet higher to try and make her kick her feet way up there. Clark would stand behind her on the runway and she’d have to tell him after her vault how many fingers he was holding so she’d get her head back. There had been countless workouts at the Ryland Pole Vault camp in Santa Rosa Beach.
But in the end, it all comes down to the vaulter being able to do it.
“That’s the separating move that draws the line between a lot of really good high school vaulters and the elite ones,” Clark said. “Can you get your brain to allow your body to go completely upside down in midair, holding onto a stick 11 feet off the ground. Not many kids are able to do that.
“It was really just hoping and praying it would click.”
It finally did in late March.
Frustrated that she had plateaued in the pole vault, finding it difficult to even duplicate the 3.15m she cleared a year ago, at a meet at Oak Hall, Veal finally inverted.
Suddenly she cleared 3.3m. That same week, at the Florida Relays, Veal went even higher to 3.45m.
“Definitely inverting in the pole vault is a feeling,” she said. “It’s crazy and it’s hard to explain what it feels like. But once you feel it, it’s like you can do it.”
She’ll continued to do it, too. Receiving an appointment to the Air Force Academy, Veal will also be a member of the Falcons’ track and field team. She’ll be focusing on the pole vault, although there may be some opportunities in the hurdles as well.
No matter, for a hopeful astronaut, Air Force is already providing another chance to keep soaring.
“It was just a dream to do everything I love at the same place,” she said. “To be able to further that and to have four more years of doing what I love is just amazing.”
ALL-AREA TEAM
Nathalia Veal
Branford, senior
The LCR’s Girls Track & Field Athlete of the Year took home state medals in three events, placing fourth in both the 100m hurdles (15.47) and pole vault (3.30m), and seventh in the 300m hurdles (46.89). She set new school records in the 100 hurdles and 300 hurdles at state and set the new pole vault mark at the Florida Relays (3.45m). Her state performances followed a Region 2-1A title in the pole vault after she swept District 5-1A titles in all three of her events, and she was also a regional qualifier on the 4x400 relay.
Kay’lyona Cuffy
Suwannee, sophomore
Won the District 3-2A title in the discus (30.77m). She also qualified for regionals in the shot put.
Zamaria Granado
Branford, senior
Qualified for state in the triple jump, placing ninth (10.51m), and won a District 5-1A title in the long jump (4.82m). She was also a regional qualifier in the 100m and 4x100 relay.
Dariniya Martin
Suwannee, senior
Qualified for the Class 2A state meet in the high jump and triple jump, placing eighth (1.52m) and 16th (10.72m), respectively. She won District 2-3A titles in the triple jump, long jump, high jump and 100m hurdles.
Ann Marie Mowrer
Branford, junior
Qualified for state in the shot put, placing 15th (9.57m).
Evie Pitts
Branford, senior
Won the District 5-1A title in the shot put (9.50m). She was also a regional qualifier in the 4x100 relay.
Zoe Richmond
Branford, senior
Qualified for state in the pole vault, placing 11th in Class 1A (2.70m). She was also a regional qualifier in the javelin and 4x400 relay.
Hannah Terry
Branford, senior
Qualified for state in the pole vault, placing 10th in Class 1A (2.70m), and was also a regional qualifier in several other events that included the 100m, 200m and 400m. She’s also the new school record holder in the 100m (13.04).
V’Kaylynn Ward
Suwannee, senior
Won District 3-2A titles in the 300m hurdles (50.88) and shot put (10.59m). She also qualified for regionals in the triple jump and 100m hurdles.
Stacy White
Columbia, junior
Won the District 3-3A title in the triple jump with a leap of 9.91m. She also qualified for regionals in the 100m.
COACH OF THE YEAR
Erin Clark, Branford
Led the Buccaneers to their first district title since 2005 that included five individual gold medals, with Nathalia Veal winning three in 5-1A. Thirteen individuals and three relay teams qualified for regionals, with five moving on to state where Veal won three medals.