BOZEMAN — Race day is pretty busy for Bozeman senior Delaney Bahn.
Bahn competes five individual events — the 100- and 200-meter dashes, the 100-meter hurdles, and the long and high jumps — and also runs a leg on the Hawks’ 400-meter relay team.
But the long jump pit is where most of her talent resides.
“I never really expected it to be my main event,” Bahn said. “I mean, high jump and long jump I would say are my main events, but long jump I did for a little when I was in middle school, but I stopped because I had knee problems. So, I stopped for like two years, then I came back and it just seemed like maybe, you know, I can get back into it and I will be good at it, and it just kind of accelerated how I was doing.”
Bahn’s head coach, Eric Fisher, has known her since she was in elementary school when he taught her. Nearly 10 years later, he is seeing her hard work pay off on the track.
“She’s had an internal drive to get better every time she does something. She’s so insatiable in that regard. It’s paying off this year as a senior, she’s having a great start to the year and continuing her strong career,” Fisher said.
The Class AA long jump state champion definitely has a lot on her plate this season, but she has a different approach to this year.
“I think just right now I’m focusing on obviously improving, having fun. It’s my senior year, I’m doing six events this year and obviously I want to do the best I can for the team. But I’m not focusing so hard that it’s going to eat me alive,” she added.
In order to enjoy her final year of track in Bozeman, Bahn is using her strong and positive mindset.
“Something that people might think of, is if there is going to be this pressure on me because I won state last year for long jump, how that pressures me now,” Bahn said. “But you just have to to think, ‘Don’t let it pressure you,’ because that’s just going to tear away at the fun of the actual sport. I do this because I like it, not because I need to for a state title necessarily. I’m just doing it because I like it.”
Bozeman track continues its season at home on Saturday at 11 a.m.
