Author: <span class="vcard">klds</span>

However, Taets wasn’t the only local competitor to home with a gold medal. Fulton junior Chloe Lindeman won the 1A shot put title.

“It’s kind of crazy to me; I never would have expected it coming in my freshman year of track,” said Taets. “It’s kind of unbelievable how much I’ve changed through freshman year. I’m hoping to keep getting better and better.”

Since being shut out in medals as a freshman, the sleek standout now has collected five medallions in the last two years. At the 2017 state meet, she was a triple jump runner-up and finished 7th in the 100 hurdles.

In this year’s 100 highs, she took the lead from the very beginning, not letting up until she crossed the finish line with a time of 14.72, just two-tenths of a second ahead of Arthur’s Kenli Nettles.

“When I pushed out, I felt really fast in the beginning,” she said. “I was just thinking to myself; I’ve gotta keep up this speed.”

As it turned out, the Class 1A triple jump competition turned into a Three Rivers Conference showdown between Taets and Fulton junior Daekota Knott. While Taets carried over her 38-foot qualifying leap from Thursday’s preliminary action, Knott improved 4.5-inches to 37-8.5, but remained in the silver medal position.

Taets made it to the podium in her third event, the 300-meter hurdles, taking third place in 46.03, with only .66 between her and the fourth place finisher.

Thanks to Taets efforts, Orion placed seventh in the team standings with 28 points – a total that included senior Alexandra Mack’s ninth-place finish (15.76) in the 100-hurdles.

In the triple jump, Taets logged the top qualifying mark with a best of 38-feet even. In the 300-meter low hurdles her 46.00 clocking was third-best.

“That’s my best race ever,” she said after the event. “I’m really happy about that. Hopefully, it gives me a good lane assignment for finals.”

Though Taets was nervous, she said taking the time to warm up before competing and focusing on her own lane helped.

“I saw the seedings. I knew it was going to be anyone’s race,” said Taets, who won the second heat by a half-second.

The race was “ridiculously close,” she said, but concentrated on doing her best.

Between now and Saturday, her plan is to try and relax, while doing “a bunch of drills” to try to improve her skills even more.

“I’m happy about this, especially since I PR’d at state, so it just feels really good,” said Taets, whose 100 hurdles time trailed only sophomore Kenli Nettles, of Arthur-Lovington-Atwood-Hammond.

In the triple jump, Taets is ahead of Three Rivers Conference foe Daekota Knott. The Fulton junior recorded the second-best qualifying leap of 37-4.

During last year’s state meet, Taets performed well, grabbing a second place in triple jump and seventh in the 100-meter high hurdles. Now, she says the pressure is on to keep up the pace.

Taets’ teammate, Orion senior Alexandra Mack, will join her in competing at Saturday’s 100-meter high hurdles final, grabbing the final qualifying spot in the nine-runner finals with her qualifying time of 16.07. She was the only runner over 16-seconds to make finals.

“I’m definitely hoping (to qualify in) all four events,” said Taets. “I hope to place in at least two or three of them, but I want to make it in all four. That’d be really nice.”

Starting off by clearing 35 feet, 9 inches to win the TRAC triple jump title, Taets went on to sweep the hurdles events, winning the 100 highs in 15.27 seconds and taking the 300 low hurdles title in 47.52; she also took second in the 100 meter dash with a 13.09 clocking.

“Obviously, I was shooting to get all four,” she said, “but I felt (winning) three was a realistic goal, so I’m OK with that. Being on my home track, I felt more comfortable, like I was at practice doing run-throughs and stuff like that. I perform better when I’m relaxed.”

A state qualifier in the triple jump and 4×800 relay two years ago, Taets also booked a trip to Eastern Illinois University’s O’Brien Stadium in the 300 hurdles last May in addition to her two medal-winning events. Her 2017 performances inspired her to raise the bar for this season.

“This year, I’ve got really high expectations for myself,” Taets said. “I want to keep doing better, better than I did last year. Right now, I feel like I’m ahead of where I was last year. My times are better, and my jumps are longer.”

With Orion set to compete at Thursday’s 1A Alleman Sectional at Augustana College, Taets hopes to reap a golden harvest.

One person who is confident that Taets will rise above the pressure of not just the 2018 postseason, but the shadow cast by last year’s accomplishments, is Orion coach Morgan Leffel.

“She gives a little extra push during the bigger meets and the postseason,” said Leffel. “As soon as last year ended, she started talking about the upcoming season. As a coach, that’s awesome to see, how motivated an athlete can be once they have some success. It opens up a whole world of possibilities.”

“When Danielle came in as a freshman, we had Alexandra Mack already, and she’s family, so we hoped that family trait would be there,” Leffel stated. “Her parents were successful, and her cousin was successful. We threw her in all kinds of events her freshman year, but last year, we found out what she was good at.”

Or, as Leffel added, the bigger the meet, the better the performance by Taets.

Now, she hopes to dig down deep for some of her biggest and best efforts these next two weeks.

“Last year at sectionals, I PR’d in almost all of my events, the three I made it to state in,” she said. “I’m hoping to do that in all of my events, to make sure I get down to state. When there’s a lot of competition, that makes me push myself even harder.”