Kayden Lightner
North Hills
Junior
Events: 400m, 800m, & 1600m
Favorite Invitational: Butler Invitational

Can you walk us through your journey in track and field? How did you discover your passion for the sport, and what events do you specialize in?
My journey in track and field started in middle school. I got to run for a brief period in my seventh-grade year, but COVID-19 had other plans, so that year amounted to essentially nothing. It did, however, give me a taste of track and field, and I was hungry for more. In eighth grade, I had a pretty successful season, winning a lot of 400 and 800-meter races. This feeling of accomplishment and payoff you get from crossing the finish line first is what fueled my passion for the sport and what pushes me every day to be better than I was before. This leads me to my ninth-grade year, which if at that point I didn’t know track was my thing, I did then. I ran 1:57.91 in the 800-meter, which became my main event, and that was all I needed to be all in. The next year, my sophomore year started off well with a ninth-place finish at the indoor state championships. I struggled early on in the outdoor season to find my groove, but in the end, I cleaned up my act and came away with a fourth-place finish at the WPIAL championships and a sixth-place finish at the PIAA state championships. This season I’m coming off of a solid indoor season, having improved to sixth at the indoor state championships and ending the indoor season with a twenty-fifth place finish at New Balance Indoor Nationals.

Is there a specific race or competition you’re particularly proud of ?
Thinking about this question, a lot of races come to mind. There was the first time I ran under 2 minutes in the 800-meter, which was pretty surreal as a ninth-grader. Or my race at the WPIAL championships last year where, despite all odds, I was able to just squeeze by with a fourth-place finish and a chance to run at the PIAA championships. But although these races were definitely special in their own right, the race I am probably most proud of was actually a small race that took place on a cold Friday night in February. This race was especially important at the time because it was, in essence, my last chance to qualify for the indoor state championships. What made this race so memorable for me was the fact that only a handful of days prior, I had been so sick I could hardly get off the couch. But on that snowy Friday night after school, my dad and I drove nearly two and a half hours to this small meet in Ashland, Ohio, that allowed me to qualify for indoor states. Now the race itself wasn’t anything special. I didn’t get a new personal best, I didn’t win, and I certainly didn’t feel good doing it, but what this race signifies and why I am so proud of it is that it shows how, when you want something bad enough, no matter the challenges and no matter the difficulty, you will go to whatever lengths possible to achieve it, and that is exactly what this race meant for me.

How do you approach mental preparation before a race, and do you have any pre-race rituals?
The mental aspect of racing is something that I have always struggled to understand. I have definitely had my fair share of pre-race doubts and anxieties, but through the years I have come to realize that instead of fighting them, I should embrace them. It is normal to be nervous before a race—butterflies in your stomach, having the jitters, and fleeting thoughts; these are all just part of the racing experience. After all, the nerves of racing are what make racing special; without them, racing wouldn’t mean nearly as much as it does. As to pre-race rituals, as boring as it may be, I don’t have that many of them. What I will say is I always have Alfredo pasta the night before a race, and I always get a fresh cut before as well. As to why, the pasta is just something I’ve been doing for a while, and I’m not too sure when or why it really started, and the haircut—feel fast, run fast—that’s all I can say to that.

Can you share a challenging moment in your track and field journey and how you overcame it?
Track and field is full of challenges. I don’t think there’s one person out there in the sport of track that hasn’t faced one at some point or another. But for myself, my most challenging moment has to be simply staying motivated throughout the track season my sophomore year. As mentioned before, I had come off of a pretty successful indoor season but come outdoor season I was just drained. I think it may have had something to do with that being my first year of both cross country and indoor track. Just the accumulation of the two seasons combined really came back to bite me in that outdoor season. I would have stretches of good workouts and feel ready and fit to race and then I would show up at meets and fall flat on my face. I had come up against adversity in the sport before, but this time it felt different. It just felt like I was down and out for the count. But I would have to say the one thing that was able to drag me out of this hole was the support from my coach and the support from teammates. It’s crazy how even when you don’t believe in yourself, if others do, how much motivation that can give you. Because now it’s about more than yourself, it’s about all of these people who support you, and it can really make all the difference.

In your opinion, what makes track and field a unique and rewarding sport, and how has it shaped your character and values?
I have played countless sports in my life. I have played soccer, baseball, basketball, and football, and none of these sports come anywhere close to track and field in terms of its uniqueness and overall rewarding nature. I can confidently say that the feeling you get in track and field when you are on top of the podium and a medal is placed on your neck is greater than anything else in any sport, hands down. There is just something about knowing that whatever you put in, you will get out, that makes track so special. It’s all you; you can’t say that your teammate gave you a bad pass or that you didn’t know a play, it’s only you and the track. And this amount of pressure that comes with this sport is exactly what makes the good times so much sweeter. Not only the accomplishment aspect of track but the team aspect too is something different from any sport. I know this firsthand as through showing up every day at practice, working hard, winning races, and going to lengths we never thought imaginable, my friend Gamaliel and I, fellow state medalists and overall demons on the track, have gotten a chance to get closer than ever and this is something that is special to track and field. And on top of all of this, the values that track and field have left me with are something that will stay with me my entire life. You don’t get good at track through luck. To be good, it takes hard work, resilience, and an undying determination to show up every day and give just a little bit more today than you did yesterday. These are some of the things that I, myself, have learned from track and field. And these are traits that anybody who is serious about track knows dearly as well.

The WPIAL is known for producing some of the greatest 800-meter runners in the state of Pennsylvania. The next man up is North Hills junior Kayden Lightner. After finishing 6th at the PIAA Championships in the 800-meter run, Kayden has more to prove this season. At the Butler Invitational, he ran a PR of 1:54.29 in one of the most stacked races this season. Kayden is one of the most versatile runners in the WPIAL; his events range from the 400-meter dash all the way up to the 5k in cross country. With a strong work ethic and a mentally strong mindset, I think he could get under the 1:53 mark by late May.

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