Like many young kids, senior Wednesday Walton said she began track in middle school when her friends started.
“I actually almost quit,” Walton said. “Because in Idaho, in middle school all you can do is the 800 and the mile and I hated it, because I don’t like running long distances but then in seventh grade, I came back out for it.”
But her athletic career did not start with track. Walton said her introduction to sports came from gymnastics, which she did for 14 years before deciding to focus on track.
She said her background in gymnastics not only helped her athletically but it was part of the reason she picked up the hurdle races. Walton said the track coaches knew her background with gymnastics and suggested she try the hurdles.
“I was the only girl who wasn’t afraid to do it,” she said. “That’s just kind of how I got into it and I just never stopped.”
From there, Walton’s focus was all track. She said after she quit gymnastics and soccer so she could do track year-round. She said she began Junior Olympics midway through high school and found success multiple times, heading to nationals twice during her high school career.
However, Walton said the skills and abilities she picked up from gymnastics are still with her today. She said her time in the sport not only shaped her character but helped her find success in the hurdles.
“I didn’t have a fear,” Walton said. “I was used to throwing myself over apparatus all the time at a really young age and so it made me mentally tough, it made me flexible. I mean it’s not normal to be able to move your hips that easily, especially when I was in the seventh grade so I mean it definitely put me ahead of the pack at a young age.”
Although Walton is flourishing at Idaho now, she said that wasn’t always her plan. Not unlike many teenagers, Walton said she saw college as an opportunity to get out of Idaho and start her own life.
“Everyone in my family had gone to the UI,” Walton said. “I just really wanted to go somewhere different. And I’m very independent, so I didn’t want to go anywhere near my family.”
Walton focused her searches primarily on the East Coast. She said she narrowed her search down to the University of Massachusetts.
After verbally committing to the University of Massachusetts, Walton said the coaching change forced her to reevaluate her decision. Since many offers had been retracted, she said her college plans were left up in the air.
“Then the former coach here, Wayne Phipps, randomly emailed me after my districts track meet saying that he heard about my offer falling through and that he would love for me to be on the team,” Walton said. “That’s when he offered me my scholarship and I was a little skeptical at first … but within my first week here, I knew it was my best option and I have loved it ever since.”
Despite it not being her original plan, Walton said Idaho has worked out to be the best option for her for many reasons.
“I feel like I always have someone to turn to,” she said. “I just meshed really well. And I got lucky with the fact that I was able to connect with a lot of people.”
And when things took a turn for the worse within her family, she said being in Idaho paid off in unexpected ways.
“My stepdad was diagnosed with lung cancer halfway through my freshman year and being at Idaho allowed me to go home a lot to visit him,” Walton said.
Walton said her relationship with her stepdad spanned beyond the father-figure role.
“He stepped in when I was in the fourth grade and never treated me as a stepchild,” she said. “He was always my dad you know, he always called me his daughter and everything. He was the head football coach at my high school, he was a teacher there. Just having him in my life, he understood the athlete part of it whereas a lot of people in my family had never gone this far.”
Everyone needs someone in their life to push them and motivate them to be their best, Walton said he filled that role throughout her life.
“He understood the academics part of it,” Walton said. “He knew the part of me being an athlete because he had worked with athletes all the time. With him getting sick I knew that all he wanted me to do was to do my best. Having him be able to push me before he passed away was really, really helpful.”
Walton said she saw how stress and emotions had a negative impact on her and her performance before her stepfathers passing.
“I had a very hard time academically for about a year and a half and that started to kind of affect my performance,” she said. “I was injured a lot my junior year, I just could never really pull out of it. I was sick and I think a lot of that had to do with stress and everything.”
A year later, Walton said she feels she is in a really good place, both with school and track. She said she believes this is partially due to the way she chose to handle her emotions following her stepdad’s death.
“This year, I have had a really, really good start of the year,” Walton said. “My preseason training went awesome. I have started out a lot stronger than I have the last three years. I think just not allowing the sadness to completely consume me made me realize, ‘Hey this is what he would want you to do, I need to do this for him.’ That’s really helped me.”
Walton said she did not have too many challenges adjusting to the physical requirements of the collegiate track, the mental and emotional aspect of it took more of an adjustment.
“I was coming out of high school being the best in the state,” Walton said of her transition into her collegiate career. “I was used to being number one. My high school didn’t take track very seriously so I was like a big deal at my high school and in the area. Everyone knew me and being from a small town I was very used to being well-known then coming to Idaho you’re back with everyone and you’re all on the same level.”
Walton said this was the piece of the transition that brought the biggest shock for her. She said an individual can’t be cocky or over confident otherwise it effects training and focus — a reality that has kept her grounded
In her final year with the Idaho track team, Walton said she expects nothing less than her best.
“I just want to finish it out as best as I can,” Walton said. “I want to go as far as I can go and continue to train hard. I think that’s where I’m at right now, I don’t expect anything less than PRs and making it to finals.”
Idaho assistant coach Cathleen Cawley said she knows Walton’s motivation to finish strong. Cawley said that she has seen Walton continually develop her strengths both on and off the track.
“Wednesday is really intense,” Cawley said. “When she gets a goal in her mind then she really goes after it. I have watched her really make strides athletically as well as academically. Really just having that kind of determination and desire.”
Cawley said this drive has been evident throughout her career but remembers a specific time when it was apparent at one of her meets.
“Last year in the spring when (Walton) ran one race in particular in the 400 hurdles and she was really excited,” Cawley said. “She just felt like she could do better and she came to me and said, ‘What do I have to do to be better?’ She was just really focused and really excited about it.”
Cawley said Walton has had a significant impact on the team, both with her performances and personality. But what stands out to her most is the impact she has had on other teammates. Walton said she recalled a specific incident when one of the freshman girls directly told her the impact Walton had made on her life.
“She told me, ‘Wednesday, you are probably 85 percent of the reason I came here because I had so much fun with you, I think you are such a great person and you made me really want to come to Idaho,” Walton said.
Walton said this had a big impact on her.
“That really made me emotional to realize I was a major deciding factor for someone to choose their college career,” she said. “That is a major, major decision and realizing that I can have that kind of impact on people is absolutely amazing and it makes me want to do that — continue to inspire people, continue to help people out in making this life decisions. Knowing that I have the power to do that just makes me very humbled and happy and knowing that people choose me to be their leader makes me want to continue to be a better person and to help people.”
Meredith Spelbring can be reached at [email protected]