Dedication to track and field got Wheat Ridge heptathlete Annie Kunz to the Tokyo Games. It also nearly kept her sister from savoring the milestone with her.
Kelli Kunz, head coach at Mountain Vista, followed Annie’s Day 1 progress at the Olympic Trials from the Golden Eagles’ tent at the Colorado state track and field championships. Annie secured personal bests in the high jump and 200 meters and was first in the shot put (15.73).
There were then nearly tears in the airport as a Sunday flight to Oregon was delayed and it didn’t look as if Kelli would make it in time to see her little sister’s Olympic dreams made real.
“I had to be there if she was going to qualify,” Kelli said.
Annie added another personal best in the long jump. If the 800 hadn’t been delayed due to record-setting heat in Eugene, Kelli would have missed it. It was the first event after the restart.
“When they were lining up for the 800, I yelled out ‘Go Annie!’ and her face lit up,” Kelli said. “That was a special sister moment.”
About 16 family members and friends saw Annie, 28, finish in 2:15.24, turning in a personal-best 6,703 points. Kendell Williams was second with a personal-best finish of 6,683. Erica Bougard (6,667) also qualified.
Annie’s cheering section won’t be able to follow her on the next leg of her journey. In a March statement, Olympic organizers announced a decision not to allow “overseas spectators for the Olympic and Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020 due to the prevailing worldwide COVID-19 pandemic.”
“Of course we’re happy that all of her training’s paying off, but it’s kind of heartbreaking that no one will be there to cheer for any of the athletes,” Kelli said.
“She’s got so many people in Colorado following her, livestreaming on Facebook and Instagram. It’s been crazy to seeing the outpouring from people who don’t even know her.”
‘Once a Farmer, always a Farmer’
Longtime Wheat Ridge track and field coach Scott Chamberlin has known the Kunz family for years. He remembers turning to Annie’s mother, Nancy, and saying her preteen daughter would be in the Olympics one day.
“It was just obvious to me,” Chamberlin said. “She had all of the ingredients.
“When you see an athlete, they may have talent, but they don’t have the mindset, they don’t have the discipline, the dedication and race determination. … She just had them. They were her.”
The comment, too far ahead of its time, was shrugged off.
“To this day, she kind of remembers that, which is a blast,” Chamberlin said.
Chamberlin coached Kelli and Annie, the latest in a line of Wheat Ridge athletes. Their grandparents, Kelli said, were the captain of the football team and head cheerleader. The girls’ father Terry was a hurdler and high jumper who went on to play for the 1976 Super Bowl champion Oakland Raiders. Extended family added to the lore.
It was something of a foregone conclusion the next generation would be athletes. As the story goes, Annie started track when she was 3 years old because she was tall and looked older.
She was part of back-to-back Wheat Ridge soccer state championships (2009, 2010) and named the Colorado Gatorade Player of the Year in 2010 and 2011. She was a 10-time state medalist in track and field and swept her events as a senior, taking gold in 100 hurdles, 300 hurdles, high jump and triple jump. Annie went on to compete in both sports at Texas A&M.
‘A fun ride’
Chamberlin recruited Kelli to begin her coaching career at Wheat Ridge while Annie, 10 years her junior, was collecting titles for the Farmers.
Add coach to sister and “second mom,” so much so that Kelli once got a Mother’s Day gift from Annie.
“We’ve been really close as long as I can remember,” Kelli said.
She has the technical knowledge to talk Annie through a bad meet, as well as a good understanding of Annie’s thoughts to determine what kind of reaction she needs.
In the past few months and particularly at the Trials, Kelli said she’s seen Annie’s mindset shift after “working hard her whole life” in near-constant training and competition.
“She just wanted to soak it all in and enjoy every moment. She wasn’t so stressed out and putting pressure on herself,” Kelli said. “I think that’s why she had this breakout meet where she was hitting PRs in almost every event, because she just trusted her training, trusted her body knew what to do, and just enjoyed it.”
Though her biggest fans will be half a world away, Annie has their support on the world stage.
“She was just born to do this,” Kelli said. “It’s been a fun ride, watching her.”
This content was originally published here.
