Hello, my name is Lainey McKinley and I am a 2018 graduate of Loyola Academy in Wilmette, Illinois. I specialize in the 1600 meter, 800 meter, and the 400 meter in track while contributing to the XC team in the fall. Having grown up playing 9 years of travel soccer along with a few years of travel softball and travel basketball, being a runner was never something I thought about until I joined the cross country team freshman year. I immediately fell in love with the sport and ran the third fastest state finish by a Loyola freshman (18:13).  As the season ended, with the help of my coaches, I made the difficult decision to quit soccer and continue running. During my first indoor track season, I ran on my school’s 4×800 meter relay team and broke the school record, placed 2nd at Illinois Top Times, and secured the fastest indoor time for Illinois, posting a split of 2:21. After having success during the outdoor season as well, posting an individual 800m time of 2:24 and a relay split of 2:18 at the state meet, I was ready to start training for the upcoming cross country season. Unfortunately, an injury in October of my sophomore year sidelined me 2.5 seasons. My first meet back was my junior year indoor championship where I ran a 2:23 in the individual 800 meter and was on my school’s 4×400 team which set the meet record. Then in my outdoor season I posted a time of 2:19.62 in the 800 meter, 5:20 in the 1600m, and a 62.8 in the 400 (60.8 split) and was on my school’s state qualifying 4×400 meter relay team. And during the postseason, I PRed by running a 5:13 1600m at the Magis Mile. With the potential that I have and can bring to a college, my goals in the future are to run a 2:16 in the 800 meter, sub 5:00 in the 1600 meter, and sub 1:00 in the 400 meter.

Off the track, my academics are extremely important to me. My current GPA is a 93 percent. I have been enrolled in honors classes during my first three years of high school and will be adding two AP courses my senior year.  My professional goal is to be a physical therapist. Besides academics, I am a member of a few clubs including SAVE which helps to maintain a clean environment both at school and locally. I am also a member of the Fair Trade committee, which works to educate people on the prevalence of sweatshops and other poor working conditions in Asia.  We also organize fundraising events to further support our efforts.

Creating and maintaining strong team bonds has always been very important to me as it plays a role in thriving athletically as a team and individually.  I love being there for my teammates when they run a personal best, but also the moments when they do not do as well and need encouragement as they would do the same for me.  Finally, as difficult and lengthy as my recovery was, it not only helped to validate my passion for running but strengthened my motivation, drive and resilience, enabling me to return a stronger and smarter competitor.  Looking ahead to college, I have a lot to bring as both a student and a student athlete.  This is evident through my success with academics, involvement in various clubs as well as my accomplishments in running. For more information, please email me at laineymckinley2018@gmail.com.