Whitmore Lake’s Kaylie Livingston made her presence known in Division
4 running in Michigan early in her freshman year and has not looked back. Now
as a senior she is still the standard-bearer in the division and looking to add
to her legacy this weekend at the State Finals at Michigan International
Speedway (MIS).
Livingston announced her presence in a big way, winning her
heat in her first high school XC race in 18:18. She went on that year to finish second at
the D4 State Finals to Aiden Harrand who is currently running for Southern Mississippi University.
Kaylie’s second place time of 17:44 that day would have won every other D4 final through
the years and since and is the 2nd fastest by a D4 runner ever at
MIS. Livingston’s Whitmore Lake team won the team title with just 78 points.
As a sophomore Livingston's team repeated as champs with a 15-point
win while Livingston ran to a 14-second win in 18:06. Her fastest clocking
during the season was 17:46.
Her junior year looked almost identical as she again
prevailed at MIS winning by 6 seconds in 18:00 and her team won the
championship by 18 points over Hillsdale Academy. Her season best was 17:42.
You get the picture; Livingston has been a rock of
consistency. She and her team have reigned over D4 for the past three years. As
far as the team outlook, Whitmore Lake is ranked behind Hillsdale Academy going
into this weekend’s state meet, but it is close.
Livingston said of her team, “The
expectations set for me individually and for the team are high, but I am
confident in the girls to perform the best we can the day of the final. We have
come a long way as we had to rebuild the team, but we have had lots of girls
step up and it’s very bittersweet now since it's my final year on the team.”
In terms of her own training through the years Livingston
said, “[it's] stayed pretty consistent from my freshman year until
now, definitely upping the intensity in some workouts and adding in higher
mileage and time runs. I often train with the boys which pushes me in workouts
and gives me people to run with on recovery run days.”
Her consistency and reliability are something that attracted
Bowling Green State University, where she has committed, to recruit her. Livingston,
who has run in D4 throughout high school, will be stepping into D1 collegiate
competition at BGSU.
“The campus, the coaching, and the team environment really
attracted me to Bowling Green State University," she said. "The campus is not super large,
which I like giving me my hometown feel, the coaching is super nice, and I feel
they really care about each of their athletes as a person and as an athlete.
The team environment was most important to me and the love and friendship on
the team made it feel like my high school team now. I am very excited by how
many Michigan girls have committed because I know lots of the girls and we have
competed against each other in the past.”
In terms of Michigan girls, she will be joining freshman Talya Schreiber,
and fellow commits Katelynn Egli from Novi and Grace Wonch from Lansing
Catholic.
For now, Livingston still has a high school career to close
out. Whitmore Lake is just the second team in D4 history to win three straight titles
and will be looking to join Mt. Pleasant Sacred Heart as the only team to win
four in a row. If Kaylie wins, she would be just the second three-time winner.
As far as running in Michigan’s smallest division at a school of just under 200 students, Livingston has a great perspective.
“I really
enjoy running in division 4, I am close to lots of big schools so I get to
compete against really high-level competition often, but I really have come to
love running in small divisions," she explained. "Everybody knows each other as we compete
against other teams so often. Teams aren’t as big. On our girls roster we only have eight girls,
but I like to prove even with a small team we can achieve great things, yes,
some years are hard to recruit girls, but we have received a lot of love over
the years for our team’s accomplishments and I believe we are making an impact.
Our girls middle school program is bigger now than ever before because they
want to be like us. Leadership is a big role for me as I try to teach the
younger girls to love running and have fun."
As far as the team battle versus last year’s runners-up Hillsdale
Academy, Livingston has love for them as well “They are a very good program
we've been running against them for a couple years and they're super kind and
supportive to our team. But I definitely try to stick to my race and try
not to worry about others. I know who’s out there and who to compete with but overall,
just focusing on myself.”
Regardless of how her team and individual battles go at MIS,
Livingston has made her mark and is leaving behind a legacy in not just Division
4 but all of Michigan cross country.
