Kunze ends career on high note
Abbotsford native competes at D-III national championships
In 2020, Melanie Kunze was prepared to go to her first collegiate national championship. As a freshman member of the UW-La Crosse Eagles track and field team, Kunze had qualified for the D-III indoor event as an alternate on the 4x400-meter relay team. However, the event was canceled due to concerns over COVID-19.
Years later, with Kunze now in her final season, she and her teammates completed one of their most challenging goals, one that they have held since Kunze entered the program back in 2019. The women’s team captured both the indoor and outdoor team championships, an impressive feat even for a program as storied as UW-La Crosse.
Kunze went to high school in Abbotsford and competed in a variety of sports, including four state track appearances, taking third in both the 100-meter and 300-meter hurdles during her final state meet. Following high school, Kunze returned to Veterans Memorial Stadium, UW-La Crosse’s track and field facility where the WIAA state championships are held, not as a Falcon, but now as a member of the collegiate La Crosse Eagles.
She spent the last four years running sprints, relays and hurdle events for the team, always chasing that elusive championship. The women’s team played runner up in the 2022 indoor championships and in the 2021 and 2022 outdoor championships, so expectations to finally get over the hump and claim a title for themselves were high headed into Kunze’s final season.
“Going into the season, we were pretty focused on that,” Kunze said of the team’s ultimate goal. “To cap off the indoor season with a national championship...it was probably the best experiences I’ve had as a student athlete, in college specifically, just because we’ve been working so hard for it and we’ve gotten so close in the past. So to just get it done was an amazing feeling.”
The Eagles claimed victory by only a few points, putting up 59.5 points in the indoor championship, defeating the second place Washington University in St. Louis by 5.5 points.
Kunze was part of the 4x400-meter relay team that took fourth place at the event, putting up a time of 3:47.80 and the distance medley relay, which took seventh with a time of 11:50.10. The results earned the team a total of seven points from the events, helping them claim the title of national champions.
With the indoor championship already under their belts, the La Crosse teams turned their attention to the outdoor season, with aspirations of completing the sweep. Headed into the event, the Eagles were seeded to claim the victory, but projections and previous performances are just that. They still needed to finish the job, and that was a task that was easier said than done.
“We knew it was going to be harder than the indoor championships, just based on the competition we expected to see,” Kunze said. “So winning that one was also such a great feeling. To be indoor and outdoor national champs is a huge accomplishment and not many teams can say that they’ve done that.”
Kunze took 11th in the 400-meter hurdles, posting a time of 1:01.80 in her final event.
The twin victories earned the track and field team a trip to the White House, an experience that Kunze noted was somewhat surreal.
“No one really expects, as a D-III track and field athlete, that you will get that opportunity,” she said of the trip. “Just being able to be in the presence of the vice president and D-I athletes was really cool.”
With the season complete and a new degree in finance and economics in hand, Kunze is looking towards her next big step, but has also taken some time to reflect on her track and field career.
“It’s been the best experience of my life,” she said. “The growth and opportunity I’ve gotten has been amazing. I feel like I’ve had a lot of adversity through athletics in college and I think you can take that growth and use it in my future career and life endeavours.”
“This was kind of just the cherry on top,” Kunze added of her experiences and performances during her senior season. “My ultimate goal is to have fun and take in the memories with all my teammates, who are some of my best friends. So being able to do this with them, I couldn’t ask for anything else.”
