Two Years to Go: Holt's Friar Looking Beyond State Titles

Nataliyah Friar notched the state’s best triple jump on her second attempt at the 2011 Championships. Yet with second place trailing her by nearly 2 feet, she tried for four more attempts to best herself, ultimately ending the day--like everyone else--in disappointment.

And her coaches loved to see her dismay.

“Her goal was to break the state record,” said Wentzville coach Craig Kinnary. “And you could see it after her sixth jump at the state meet: Even though she had pretty much won it, she was disappointed she didn’t break that record.

“You have to be glad she’s disappointed. Instead of sitting there celebrating herself, she’s sitting there thinking ‘I need to get better,’” he said.

The problem with Friar, and the root of her coaches’ concerns, is that she’s running out of things to chase--and she still has two years left to go. After taking second place in the triple jump and sixth place in the long jump her freshman year, she has already jumped to state champion in both events as a sophomore.

This makes a state record the next natural step for the impending junior. Friar jumped 40-2 at the Warrenton Invitational this past spring, just 7 inches off the state mark, set in 1995 at 40-9.25. Her personal best in the long jump, an 18-11.5 flight that landed her this year’s state title, is 9 inches off Missouri’s record. She added nearly two feet in both jumps from one state meet to the next.

“(A state record) is a goal because, now with all the seniors in front of me gone, it forces me to step up and at least keep my position,” Friar said. “I need to watch out for incoming freshman who just show up, like I did. That’s always in the back of my mind. I still have to give it my best to go to state in four events next year.”

Oh, that’s right. She runs, too. Without even a qualification in the 100-meter dash as a freshman, Friar came in eighth in the state in Jefferson City this past May. She also took fifth amidst a stacked section in the 200-meter dash, just missing her fourth state qualification.

“(Running) is one of the ways she has made her biggest improvements,” Kinnary said. “Last year, she didn’t even make it to state in the 100. This year, she not only gets to state, she qualifies for finals. And her fifth-place time in the 200 probably gets her out of any other sectional (meet) in the state.”

Already reveling in Friar’s “defeat” at the state meet in May, Kinnary will soon begin reneging on past promises. In her freshman season, the coaching staff cut a deal with their budding star: If she would “try out” the triple jump, they would take her out of the 400-meter dash--her admitted nemesis distance. Friar should have got that one in writing.

“The way she runs and when she jumps, you can tell that a lot of it just comes very natural to her. And then she works on it and continually improves,” Kinnary said. “As she looks down the road, colleges are going to ask her to run the 400 or be part of the 4x4 team. That’s where we’d like to see her develop. She doesn’t actually have to like every event, just be willing to do them.”

Like Friar’s first two years, Kinnary may not have to wait long to be surprised again. Friar has already taken up pace with the Ladue Lightning Track Club, offering her continued training and more exposure through meets around the country. A month into the summer, Friar has already set another personal recorder with her first sub-60 second split in the 4x400-meter relay.

Missouri’s three-event finalist and double state champion is starting to buy into the concept of becoming well rounded.

“I know my coaches want to push me to become more of a well-rounded athlete,” Friar said. “Colleges can look and say ‘OK, she can jump and sprint, but how about middle distance and work on the relay?’ I think I want colleges to see that, hey, she at least has the potential to do this--before they even really start looking at what I’ve done.”