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Arlington’s Kailynn Gubbels makes leap to track and field stardom
Kailynn Gubbels’ winning 100-meter time of 14.59 seconds set a Nebraska state meet record this past spring. (Credit: Callam Sports Photography)

Arlington’s Kailynn Gubbels makes leap to track and field stardom

ARLINGTON, Neb. (BVM) — Kailynn Gubbels grew up in an ideal situation for becoming a high school sports star. Her mother Leslie was a Division I college basketball player at Creighton University and her father Steven has been coaching track and field for 20-plus years and is currently the head coach for Arlington High School where Kailynn, a rising senior, is rewriting school and state record books as the reigning Gatorade Nebraska Girls Track and Field Player of the Year.

Kailynn is a three-sport standout who also plays basketball and volleyball for the Eagles, but it became evident even before she entered high school that she had the potential to become a truly special athlete in the sport her father has coached her. 

“When she got into her first competition in junior high, she went 5-4 in the high jump and she was three-stepping the 100-meter hurdles,” Steven said. “That’s a leap to get to. A lot of times you’re trying to get girls to do that freshman year or when they begin their sophomore year.”

Being around the sport from an early age certainly helped Kailynn’s development, as did the fact she was willing to put in plenty of work even when she wasn’t required to do so.

“Even when we weren’t doing things organized, she was out there doing it on her own,” Steven said.

Last spring, with the COVID-19 pandemic forcing everything to be shut down, Kailynn kept training with her father at their home outside of Arlington in what Steven called their “County Road 7 workouts.” And it was during this time that Kailynn not only made significant strides in her workouts but also realized that she could compete at a level that she previously didn’t believe was attainable.

Gubbels’ personal-best high jump of 5 feet, 10 inches set a Class B state record in Nebraska this past spring. (Credit: Callam Sports Photography)

“That was kind of a pivotal moment,” Steven said. “That kind of led her to the fact that she really wants to do track in college.”

“He was the one who told me, ‘You could do this at the next level,’” Kailynn said, “and I had no idea I was even able to do that at the next level. That was kind of what motivated me. … It hit me and motivated me to work out even though there was no track season.”

The workouts paid big dividends during Kailynn’s junior season. This past spring, she captured state titles in 100-meter hurdles and took second in the 300-meter hurdles. Her winning 100-meter time of 14.59 seconds set a state meet record. Her personal-record high jump of 5 feet, 10 inches last season also set a Class B state record which ranked No. 8 nationally among all prep athletes in 2021 while her PR hurdles time of 14.52 is also a Class B state record.

As she heads into her final year at Arlington, she has her sights set on surpassing her personal bests in both the hurdles and the high jump while she continues to consider a future nearly certain to include a Division I college track and field career. Nebraska, Iowa State, Kansas and Kansas State are among the many potential DI destinations for the Eagles’ star, who might not be in such an enviable position if not for those “County Road 7” workouts with her dad in the midst of a global pandemic.

“It was a lot of fun,” Gubbels said. “My dad and I have a great relationship. He’s a coach in that situation but he’s also my dad and he’s my best friend and we have fun while we’re doing workouts and he makes it fun and enjoyable. That whole time period just changed my whole life about track and the training process and it makes it all the more enjoyable now.”