Athlete: Claire Walters
Year: 2019
School: Fayetteville-Manlius, NY
Analysis: Claire Walters rose to the occasion at the New York State Championship last fall to take the 'W' over a stacked field that included Jess Lawson of Corning, Kelsey Chmiel of Saratoga Springs, Abbey Wheeler of Elmira Express and her own teammate, Kaitlyn Neal, FM's consistent No. 1 runner last fall. Neal was recovering from injuries sustained after a car accident and went on to lead the Hornets to titles at the NXN New York Regional and NXN.
With Neal graduated, Walters steps in as the most likely candidate to lead FM to their 10th national title this December. After her big win at the New York state meet, she was the Hornet's seventh runner at the NXN New York Regionals (26th overall, 19:14) and then improved to No. 2 behind Neal at NXN (24th overall, 17:40.7) at NXN, proving she runs her best when the stakes are highest.
Walters was a consistent 10:30s performer over 3K this track season, but track is just training ground for the Fayetteville-Manlius squad. Expect to see her name again this fall.