Photos by Scott DeCamp | CatchMark
MUSKEGON — Charley Klint’s day began Wednesday at 7 a.m., as the Whitehall senior got ready for commencement practice at the Viking Athletic Center bright and early.
Turns out, that was probably the easy part of a day she will not soon forget.
“It’s been a long day. Been up since, like, 7 … just going everywhere,” Klint said as she tried to catch her breathe following her anchor leg on the Vikings’ 4×400-meter relay at the 43rd West Michigan Invitational Track Meet just before 9:30 p.m.
The Vikings’ four-sporter, who on Tuesday was presented the Gerri and Carl Beausang Memorial Scholarship as her school’s most outstanding female athlete, outdid even herself Wednesday.
From graduation festivities, Klint grabbed a quick bite to eat, then she hustled to Reeths-Puffer’s Rocket Stadium for the West Michigan track invite. In the afternoon, she claimed the pole vault title with a personal-best effort of 9 feet, 3 inches.
Immediately, she hopped in the car and her dad drove them to Fremont, where Klint joined her Whitehall soccer team in an early-evening 3-2 district-opening win over the host Packers.
Barely enough time to catch her breath, Klint hurried back to Reeths-Puffer to compete in two more events. She ran the 300-meter hurdles and finished off a crazy day in the final event of the evening.
By that time, Klint was gassed. Her legs were like “jello,” in her words. The Greater Muskegon Athletic Association champion in pole vault, 100 hurdles and 300 hurdles placed 13th in the former (54.19) while the Vikings’ 4×400 quartet finished eighth (4:38.26).
“I kind of started good (in the 4×400 relay), but I was slowing down toward the end because I knew I was not going to be able to catch up and my legs were feeling like jello,” she said.
At Whitehall, Klint has been a standout in volleyball, basketball and track and field. This spring, she decided to give soccer a try, too, and became a dual-sport athlete.
Klint will attend Lawrence Tech University in Southfield, where she has signed to play volleyball. The 3.8 student intends on studying engineering.
Whitehall’s commencement ceremony is 6:30 p.m. today at the VAC, where Klint will be celebrated along with her classmates.
“Earlier in the season, when we had a (track) meet and a (soccer) game, I would skip the game because it was just a conference game, whatever, or one of them would get, like, canceled so I could to one,” Klint said. “But I hadn’t yet gone back and forth with soccer and then coming to track.
“It’s a long, exhausting day.”
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