Senior Kinley Wolfe has followed her family’s footsteps into an incredible track and field career, but the opportunity has led her to learn even more about her life as an athlete than she previously thought it could.

Wolfe has built her life around being a distance runner at Creek, breaking many records and holding down a family legacy with her older siblings, who are both Division One runners.

Wolfe wasn’t familiar with track or cross country until she was influenced by her brother and sister, Parker and Baylor Wolfe respectively. Her freshman year of high school was where everything changed for her; Wolfe and her siblings were all on the same track and field team at Creek, and she had found a sport that she loves and enjoys to partake in.

Once her siblings left for college, Wolfe was left alone on the team – a change that forced her to evolve and grow as an individual athlete. Throughout the last couple of seasons, she has focused on her personal growth alongside working well with the team.

“[This season] has finally given her the opportunity to take a leadership role, she’s now [become] one of our distance captains,” assistant distance running coach Ethan Dusto said. “Now she can be her own person by herself, which is a unique chance for her.”

Wolfe’s mother attended Colorado State University for track and field, her older brother is a current senior who runs at UNC Chapel Hill, and her older sister is a freshman who runs at the University of Kentucky.

Seeing all this success in her family inspired her to follow in their footsteps to become a runner, too.

“I played soccer [when I was younger,] but I didn’t love it as much, so I joined the sport my siblings were doing at the time, and I really fell in love with running,” Wolfe said.

Her senior season of track and field has given Wolfe a place to showcase her skills, and attend special events like the University of Kansas relays. Over the weekend of April 19, Kinley ran races in Kansas with the track & field team, and she placed sixth in the girls 800m and third in the girls 1600m.

But her running career isn’t ending here just yet. On Jan. 21, she announced that she is taking her career to the next level at the UNC Chapel Hill, extending her family’s legacy at the school.

Wolfe is excited to be going to the same college as her older brother because of how much she looks up to him, but she’s also looking forward to running and meeting new people in North Carolina, experiencing new things and seeing what she can do and grow as a runner.

“We definitely have a very close relationship with the entire Wolfe family,” UNC women’s distance coach Jessica Riden said via email. “They are truly amazing people and fantastic supporters of our entire program over the years [and] we are super excited to have them in our corner for Kinley’s time in Chapel Hill.”

Now that the next steps are decided for Wolfe, she’s been able to reflect on how her four seasons were while being a part of Creek’s cross country and track and field program.

“The coaches here have been so great, I really appreciate all they have done for me,” Wolfe said. “But I hope that these new coaches can take me to the next level and that I can do really well there too.”