Kristie Mullen's competitive nature shows up in the track events she likes the most.

Atop the list for the Omaha Roncalli senior is the 800 meters, in which she is the state's returning gold-medal champion.

“It's a sprint, in a way,'' she said. “Go as far as you can as fast as you can. It's an interesting mix of distance running and sprinting.''

Then there are the 1,600 and 3,200 relays, both of which she anchors for the Roncalli/Omaha Duchesne cooperative-sponsorship team.

“She is a competitor,'' said Cecilia Finley, the team's head coach. “When she gets on the relay, she'll relish the fact that sometimes we're in last because she'll come from behind. It forces her to run fast.”

That's especially true, the coach said, if the relay team includes her twin sister, Katie. They are one of two sets of twins in their family and one of four sets on the track team.

“We work out together, and she pushes me as much as I hope I push her,” Kristie said. “I'm glad we're together. She helps so much.''

Mullen's other event is the 400 meters. She won the 400 and 800 at the Wayne State indoor meet last weekend that opened the Crimson Pride's season. It was the first time in her career that he had run the 400 and 800 back-to-back.

She's the two-time defending Class B champion in the 800. Her winning time last season of 2:14.95 held up for the all-class gold medal.

Mullen said after the race that she felt bad for Scottsbluff's Aubree Worden, who was trying to be a triple gold medalist in the 800, 1,600 and 3,200 but finished sixth.

Finley said that concern is part of Mullen's makeup. She said her runner is very introspective and very smart. Competitiveness fits in there, too.

“I think in the back of Kristie's mind, though, she was thinking ‘You're going to get that' in the 800,'' Finley said.

There's also a playful side, which emerges every April 1 at the coach's expense.

Last year at the Platteview Invitational, Mullen's April Fool's joke was having the clerk of the course tell Finley that Mullen had been disqualified for having her running shorts rolled up.

“I'm gearing up to get her this year,'' Finley said. “She has a funny little sense of humor.”

Mullen has signed with South Dakota for track and field. As for this year, her goals including improving her personal bests and leading Roncalli/Duchesne to a high finish at the state track meet. The team was third in 2009 and eighth last year in Class B.

“It's kind of cheesy, but what I really wish is that everybody on the team has fun,'' she said. “We co-op with Duchesne, and some may think there would be lots of drama, but we're so close and have so much fun.''

Contact the writer:

402-444-1041, stu.pospisil@owh.com, twitter.com/stuOWH

« High Schools

Share