Track and field: McCalister already starting to add her part to the family legacy

Trianna McCalister has heard her mom tell the story more times than she can count.

Running the mile relay. Chasing down the anchor leg of the mile relay for Monahans.

Coming into her second summer track and field season to compete at the first day of the 5th annual Dan Cepero Memorial Track and Field Meet on Friday, McCalister hasn't had much time to create her own stories.

But after one season of high school track - McCalister was a freshman at Monahans last year - the daughter can already tell a story her mother doesn't have.

A story about competing in the UIL State Track and Field Championships.

McCalister turned in a personal-best leap of 37 feet, 0.75 inches to finish sixth in the triple jump at the Class 3A state championships in Austin early this month.

Her mother, Trina Amos, never reached the state meet.

"She tells stories all the time," McCalister said. "She says, ‘y'all are not as strong as we were, and I had to run the quarter, and I had to go so fast on the handoff.'"

Her mom ran at Monahans. So did her aunt, Ann McCalister, who coaches the Sandhills Track Club, the same team her niece competes for during the summer.

Another aunt, Tela Lindsey, was an All-American volleyball player at Southwestern University.

McCalister picked up those genes, too. She's an outside hitter for the Lady Loboes volleyball team.

"We're expecting great things from her in the future," Ann McCalister said. "She was nervous at state, but nerves are good. She did real well."

Nerves bring out the best in McCalister.

McCalister leaped into the state meet on her final jump of the Region I-3A Championships. She set the Lady Loboes school record at state.

But that's because she hates to lose.

"She's always been ahead of everybody," Ann said. "Last year, she did summer track for the first time, and at the state meet in San Antonio, she finished third in the 400."

McCalister didn't take the loss well.

"She was upset," Ann said. "She'd never been beaten before."

Competing at the Cepero meet, McCalister won the intermediate girls' triple jump with a leap of 35 feet, 9 inches. She won the long jump with a leap of 15 feet, 6.25 inches.

McCalister was disappointed.

"That's not my best," McCalister said. "I'm going to work on it. I want to get back to 37 in the triple."

She was competing in a small field. Only two girls competed in the intermediate triple jump. McCalister was the lone competitor in the long jump.

Perhaps she needs a few more girls to beat.