This story is part of a collaboration between Colorado Preps and KKTV. The video package was shot and edited by KKTV sports director Jessica Mendoza
MANITOU SPRINGS – Mackinzy Wall had the desire to ease into things when the track and field season began but that didn’t go according to plan.
Since she entered the building at Manitou Springs High School as a wide-eyed freshman two years ago, she could help but stare at one number on the wall of the school’s gym
That number was 119 feet, 10 inches. It signified the school record in the discus and was set by Whitney Frase in 2009. Wall wanted to beat that number.
She got her wish in the first meet of the season, hitting a mark of 126-0 at the CSU Pueblo Early Bird meet back in March. When the Mustangs returned for the Thunder-Storm Invite at CSU Pueblo on April 12, she broke the school record she had set less than a month earlier, hitting 135-2.
These are goals that Wall had hoped to accomplish through the course of the season, but putting her name on the school record so early in the year came as a total surprise.
“It was the first meet, I had no expectations set,” Wall said. “There was nothing pressure-wise on me from my coaches. It was a really cool PR to see and it was very important to me that I beat the school record this year. The fact that it happened so early on, I’m extremely grateful for it.”
Wall is currently ranked at No. 2 in the discus in all of Class 3A. She’s fifth in the state regardless of classification.
Not bad for a girl who started throwing on a whim.
It was in middle school that her track coach gave the entire team an offer to try any event that they wanted. Smaller in stature compared to most throwers, Wall thought it sounded like fun. Skeptical at first, the coaches were amazed when took first at a meet. She’s been throwing ever since.
“It was a really fun sport, and I liked the coach at the time,” Wall said. “I just decided to continue with it into high school.”
And she kept thriving. Wall qualified for the state meet in discus and was the only girl to compete for the Mustangs at the three-day event at Jeffco Stadium.
The 2024 meet was a little better. Wall got back into state throwing the discus and placed ninth, the same place she finished as a freshman. But she also competed in the 4×400-meter relay and had a solid team of girls with her at Jeffco Stadium.
That’ll be the case again as the Manitou girls will likely take a small, but competitive, team to state next month.
“Freshman year was really scary going with just a bunch of junior and senior guys,” Wall said. “It’s really comforting to know that I’m going to have all my friends there with me [this year] because we’re all good athletes.”
And she means it. She has her name on a school record, but so does Keyaira Moore, who has set the school mark in both the 1,600 and 3,200 this season. Chloe Bresnahan came in under the old school record in the 3,200 which Kate Johnston set in 2006. Johnston’s time was 12 minutes, 3.92 seconds.
At the Thunder-Storm Invite, Moore ran the 3,200 in 11:48.34, breaking the school record she had set two weeks earlier, and Bresnahan clocked in at 11:53.03.
Wall was the one who cracked the dam for the Mustangs as the girls track team is starting to look more like the state championship teams of the early 1990’s as opposed to the team sending just one athlete to state a few years ago.
“Our girls team is small, but we’re very close as a girls team,” Wall said. “It’s really cool when Keyaira or anyone breaks a record or gets a PR. It really strengthens our bond. We have maybe nine girls, maybe 10 maximum. But knowing we can advance in the 3A state ranking is really cool for all of us.”
