This cross country season, Kaylie Shultz has made her own name and is trailblazing toward success.

Shultz won the league cross country meet with a time of 16:35.22, breaking the school record and achieving the ninth-fastest time in the state of Kansas.

“I definitely have worked really hard throughout the summer,” Shultz said. “So it is pretty exciting to be able to put my name out there and show (college) coaches.”

Shultz is undefeated at all five meets so far this year and won the Rim Rock Classic meet.

“I was really excited,” Shultz said. “I’ve never won Rim Rock before.”

Shultz said her goal is to avoid injury and continue to dominate.

“[I want to] try to finish the end of the year healthy,” Shultz said, “and hopefully we can make it to state as a team, and then just place as high as I can throughout the rest of this year.”

Head cross country coach Brad Dix said he is grateful for his coaching experience with Shultz.

“To be honest, I feel blessed,” Dix said. “I’ve been coaching a long time, and I’ve had the blessings of coaching some very talented runners. Kaylie is obviously one of the most talented.”

Shultz, who started running in elementary school, said it stood out from other sports. 

“I started running in third grade,” Shultz said. “It was the first sport that I really had fun doing and really found love in.”

Senior Tayton Morris said he has seen Kaylie progress throughout his time of running with her.

“I’ve seen her get more confident in her running,” Morris said. “When I first started training with her, especially freshman year, obviously she was competitive and everything, but I think she’s gotten a lot more confident.”

Dix said he has seen mental development from Kaylie during her running career. 

“I’ve always been impressed,” Dix said, “but I think she’s grown as much mentally as physically, and that’s part of it.”

Morris said getting challenged by Shultz while running has positively affected him.

“Running with Kaylie is challenging,” Morris said, “but also, we work together a lot of the time, in workouts and stuff, so it’s been good that we both push each other.”

Morris also said that he enjoys watching Kaylie succeed, because he knows how hard she works.

“I’ve seen how much work she’s put in,” Morris said. “The dedication that she has, just being on the team with her, and training this summer and winter. So I think that it’s really good to see her improve and progress.” 

Shultz said her favorite part of the season is running with her friends.

“Being with my team and being with the girls is the best part,” Shultz said. “We have a really good girls team, dynamic wise, so it’s really fun to have them there every single practice and just be able to spend time with them.” 

Shultz said the cross country team has grown this year, which secured their first win as a team.

“This year we have a much bigger team, and we are placing a lot higher at meets, because we have so many girls,” Shultz said. “We actually won our first meet in over seven years. So that was really exciting, and I think it’s just a really good atmosphere.”

Dix said Kaylie’s good work ethic positively impacts runners around her.

“When you’re the best runner, you are also the hardest worker,” Dix said. “It makes a huge difference, and that’s just the way we do things here at Salina Central.”

Shultz said her achievements have come to her from working hard.

“A lot of my free time goes to running,” Shultz said. “So I think a lot of my success comes from the hard work that I put in and having a positive mindset when it comes to all the hard work.”