Track and field: McCamey junior is right on track

MCCAMEY Ask nearly anyone about Caitlin Gulihur and the first thing they are likely to say is: She's smart.

The McCamey High School junior is more than just smart. She scored a 33 out of a possible 36 on her ACT test as a sophomore and can likely go to any college of her choosing in the nation.

Gulihur isn't some nerd, though.

No, she isn't just smart - she's also fast and can jump.

Those two attributes, combined with using her smarts to develop sound technique is why she will be representing the Lady Badgers in the 100-meter hurdles May 10 at the Class 1A UIL State Track and Field Championships in Austin.

"Athletics is for fun," Gulihur said. "It keeps me in shape, it is a good way to meet people and go places."

Going places like Austin, for a meet that is like nothing she has ever experienced.

"It hasn't really hit me yet," she said. "It doesn't feel like I've qualified. I'm going to be really nervous."

Gulihur began participating in athletics her sixth grade year, as her mom wanted her to branch out.

She participates in track and field, cross country and powerlifting.

"My mom kind of put me into athletics because she wanted to teach me how to lose," Gulihur said. "I wasn't very good at losing and I decided if I was going to do it, I should do it good.

"I thought I'd be horrible. I was horrible for a really long time."

Gulihur hasn't been horrible this year, but she also wasn't posting times that were state qualifier material until recently.

While Gulihur isn't the fastest female athlete at McCamey High School, she uses her long legs to only take three steps between each hurdle, which allows her to take fewer steps than the average runner in each race.

Gulihur ran a 16.15 at the Region I-1A meet at South Plains Junior College in Levelland to finish second and qualify for state. That time is her best of the season and gives her the fifth seed at the state meet, within a second of the top seed.

"It started about a week or two before district," she said, "everything I've been working on and it all clicked and my times got down."