Kate Hunter competed mostly against her BYU teammates en route to a personal record. Photo by Kevin Neri
Kate Hunter stood outside Hayward Field on Friday, her hands on her hips and her glittering gold eyeshadow untarnished by the evening rain. Hunter, a senior at Brigham Young University, won the women’s 800 meters at the Oregon Twilight Meet in 2 minutes, 6.72 seconds against a field mostly composed of BYU teammates.
The rain had moved over the track minutes before the 800-meter events. The weather made Hunter less focused on her time. Instead, she thought of the race as a chance to enjoy her senior track season.
“Honestly, when I saw the rain, I was kind of excited,” Hunter said.
Hunter spent most of the race behind Oregon runners McKenna Ramsey and Carly Kleefeld. At 600 meters, Hunter passed Kleefeld and moved into second place before rounding the curve. She came up on Ramsey and kicked solidly ahead of her as they entered the final 100 meters.
“I saw her in front of me and I was like, ‘I don’t know if my legs will carry me the last 100, but I’m going to trust that if I go, I’ll be able to do so,’” Hunter said. “I think I was very determined to prove to myself that I could do it.”
Hunter beat her previous personal best by 0.19 seconds. She ran the 800 to work on speed for her main event, the 1,500. But running the 800 gave her a chance to run with her younger sister, Meghan, a sophomore at BYU and usually runs the 400 and 800.
“It’s fun because we get to push each other,” she said.
When Hunter looks back at her career at BYU, she remembers feeling stressed in her first few years. In her junior year, her husband surprised her at a race in California. His support helped her realize that she could have fun at competitions rather than stressing about them.
“I just remember being like, ‘He believes I can do it. It’s just fun,” she said. “That was a defining moment.”
Now, her priority is having fun and making friends during her last few months in Utah. Hunter will move to Kansas City, Missouri, with her husband after she graduates.
Hunter’s only departing advice for her little sister is to not spend her track career stressing about races.
“Remember why you fell in love with it,” she said. “That’s my biggest piece of advice.”
