Toughness to the Test – Junior enjoys competitive track spirit

Callie Yeakel's career on northwest Iowa and beyond's cinder and all-weather surfaces has seen the gamut of activity.

An impressive scholastic career at Central Lyon (Rock Rapids) High School, where she was on an Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union state champion 4x200 squad, featured mostly sprints and hurdles. Taking her skills to Morningside University, it's been more of the same – everything from 100 to 800 meters and hurdling across indoor and outdoor schedules on the collegiate resume.

"Track is such a pure sport," she reflected. "It's your best ability against someone else. When your best is good enough, you win the event and possibly hit a personal record – a mark you've always wanted. That feeling is indescribable and can be a very addicting part of it. You feel like you can always go faster and faster."

She has a love for a sport she didn't even know about until the sixth grade in the Central Lyon school district.

"You know those track days they do for elementary schools? That was the first I'd heard of track and field," Yeakel admitted. "It sounded like fun. I loved it from the beginning, and as I worked my way through junior high, I had people telling me how well I was doing."

From that start, competing at the outdoor state championships and moving into her first National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics championships has seen success. Yeakel is a three-time all-Great Plains Athletic Conference honoree to go with her high school accolades.

She hasn't been afraid of the work or event changes she's seen to get there.

"Yeah, I've got a chance to run in two events at nationals, but only if someone on the 4x800 team has an injury," Callie said. "None of us want that to happen – I'll be more than happy if it's just the 400-meter hurdles in Alabama."

"I am comfortable in several races because of what (head coach Dave) Nash has been talking to me about," she added. "The 400 hurdles and 800 are two of the toughest races in track. Many of the best 400-meter hurdles run the half-mile, too, and vice versa. It takes a certain mental toughness and a drive to be able and want to do something like that." 

No one can say Callie doesn't have both. During her high school campaign, she competed with a stress fracture throughout her freshman year, even making it to the Big Blue Track at Drake University in Des Moines despite it.

"I've had to deal with injuries off and on," she said. "This year, I was determined to get completely healthy, as last season, I was only able to compete in two indoor meets due to being in a boot. I've stayed healthy even though that stress fracture is still there. I use pain management, have a great sprints coach in Andre (McWeil), and do what I can on and off the track to stay in good form."

Her injury battles have also given her a view of the future career she'd like to have. After graduating in the spring of 2023, she plans to go to physical therapy school.

"I do kind of put into play some of the tools I'll have to rely on to be a physical therapist when I train and compete," Callie noted. "I do so for the chance to be there for my teammates in every event. They and the coaching staff are why I'm where I'm at. They've pushed me to be better."

Putting her toughness to the test on and off the track – with sparkling results.