Aurora student-athlete Kaeli Powe earns prestigious award
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AURORA, Colo. — Inside Legacy Stadium at Cherokee Trail High School, Kaeli Powe stretched and hopped in place as she lined up at the 100-meter line. Untied shoelaces, black jeans, light pink acrylics — Powe didn’t look ready to run, but she lowered herself onto one knee as her nails edged the white starting line.
With a lightning-quick first step, she exploded down the track and jumped over one, two, three hurdles.
“I have track practice later, this is just a warm-up,” said Powe, not breaking a sweat.
Gatorade named Kaeli Powe as Colorado’s female track & field athlete of the year on June 24. The illustrious annual award dates back to 1985. It highlights the best student-athletes for their success on and off the field.
Every state and the District of Columbia has 12 winners in 12 sports. Out of these 610 athletes, 12 Gatorade National Players of the Year are selected.
A committee made up of coaches, schools and media members across the nation selects athletes for the award.
Powe is the first Aurora girls' track and field athlete to win the award since Ana Holland in 2013.
This year, the 5-foot-6 senior won the Class 5A state championship in the triple jump — her main event — leaping 41 feet, 4 ½ inches. She also took second in the long jump and finished sixth in the 100-meter hurdles.
All events that Powe participated in besides the 200m relay are technical events, according to her club coach, Wayne Vaden.
“Kaeli is absolutely determined. From the first time she came into the club until she left, she’s been very technical in her approach to learning the events,“ Vaden said.
From the timing of the jumps to the power that one has to exert on every step of the triple jump event, athletes tend to chase a “feeling” rather than perfection, because it’s near impossible to gauge, according to Vaden.
“The event is too multifaceted, some of it is instinct,” Vaden said.
Powe also maintained a 4.31 GPA in the classroom and volunteered with organizations like Jack and Jill of America and the Colorado Community Church Marketplace Foodbank collection.
The award also includes a $1,000 grant that can be donated to a local or national youth sports organization. Powe chose to donate her grant to Girls on the Run Rockies.
Powe started running competitively in sixth grade and wants to inspire younger girls to do the same.
“She’s an incredible leader,” Vaden said. “Poised and a professional standard that everybody can follow. Kids on the team and even younger kids see her compete, and she really represents Colorado as a first-class individual.”
At the start of her running career, Powe set her eyes on one goal: breaking her mom’s Colorado state record. In 1988, Johni Johnson Powe set a state record in the triple jump with a distance of 40 feet 1 inch, becoming the first Colorado female high school student to break 40 feet.
“The goal from the beginning was always to beat my mom. Growing up, I chased that goal for a long time,” Bowe said.
Vaden joked with Bowe often, calling her out in front of her teammates as the only one on the team who couldn’t beat her mom.
Bowe surpassed her mom as a sophomore in high school and now has set her own personal best at 42 feet, 1 ¾ inches.
She credits her mom for keeping her focused in the early years, but now, she competes with herself, with her mom cheering from the sidelines.
“The nice thing with jumping is that you can always tell if you’re going farther. Every inch, every foot, I’m just trying to get farther really,” Bowe said.
This fall Powe will attend the University of Central Florida, where she’ll compete in their track and field program.
“I’m excited to be competing with a dominant group of jumpers around me, practicing and training on a bigger scale,” Powe said.
Type of story: News
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
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