National record just the start for Joplin’s Camryn Ledford

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By Brock Sisney (For OzarksSportsZone.com)

JOPLIN — Joplin para-athlete Camryn Ledford started her junior season of track with a bang, a big bang, recently at the Carthage Invitational.

Actually, to be precise, it wasn’t a bang or even a big bang, but a national record distance in the javelin with a throw of 12.67 meters or 41.57 feet.

“It was our first meet of the season,” Ledford said. “Technically, I don’t believe it counted as an official national record because I wasn’t at an Adaptive Sports USA meet where everybody is in chairs and they have officials there. I did beat the distance for the record. That was honestly a great feeling.

“So, it’s the first meet and I actually hadn’t competed in our high school meets in a throwing chair yet. I just got one this year. It was our first time setting it up at a meet. They had me throw 15 minutes before any events were supposed to start, so my parents hadn’t shown up yet and none of my friends were over there. It was just me and the coaches and officials, and the other throwers. I beat the distance and my coach stood up and said, ‘Well, that’s the record.’ My parents rolled in literally five minutes later and asked what was going on. I was like, ‘Well, I threw and you missed it.’”

Ledford’s parents are James and Susan Ledford, and she considers them her biggest fans. To be around Camryn Ledford for only a few minutes, though, is to become her fan.

“Camryn is an unbelievable individual,” Joplin head track and field coach Brandon Taute said. “She has a great personality, is always happy, always sees the positive in everything, and she’s a great competitor. She comes out every day trying to get better and we’re seeing that through the results.

“It was last Thursday at the Carthage Invitational, right at the beginning of the meet. She’s throwing javelin and I didn’t even see it honestly, because I was over at another event. I heard about it and when I saw her she was thrilled. You started looking at it and it’s a big time throw, obviously. It’s a national record and so she’s the best ever to do it.”

This is not Ledford’s first brush with track and field success.

In 2019, she won three state para titles her freshman year: 100, 200, and 400 with state records in all three events — 20.61 in the 100, 39.11 in the 200, and 1:17.82 in the 400, eclipsing the previous marks established by Troy’s Katie Ladlie in 2016.

Ledford also earned U.S. Paralympics Track & Field High School All-American honors in 2019, in the 800, the 1500 and the javelin for times and marks she reached at the UCO Endeavor Games (hosted by Central Oklahoma in Edmond, the 2021 UCO Endeavor Games will offer 11 in-person and nine at-a-distance sport competitions).

Ledford first began competing in track and field in 2018, her eighth grade year.

“Probably my whole friend group,” Ledford said of who most encouraged her to give track a try. “I grew up with friends who were really dedicated to their sports and my entire family is a baseball family, so I’ve always been interested in sports and wanted to play sports. When my friends my eighth grade year were joining the track team, they encouraged me to become the manager for the track team and then one of my friends, Allie Lawrence, actually told me that I could probably be a thrower. We asked (South Middle School) Coach (Kenny) Peters about it and he made it happen.”

Though she first considered wheelchair basketball, Ledford quickly clicked with track and she competes in the 100, 200 (her favorite race, because it’s not too long or short), 400, 800, 1500, shot put, javelin, and discus.

“I feel a certain kind of freedom when I’m on the track and racing,” Ledford said. “It gets me away from all my struggles with normal life and I feel more normal and part of the team. That’s probably my No. 1 favorite thing about it.”

Ledford added that all the events have their ups and downs.

Coach Taute works with Ledford in the sprints and Parker Howard coaches her in the javelin this year, and Nick Reid worked with Ledford her freshman year.

“I love all my coaches,” Ledford said. “They are all dedicated to helping me get better. Taute and my freshman year, Coach (Jeff) Williams, he’s the Principal here now so obviously he’s not my coach anymore, but he dedicated his time to helping me get better in all events. My adaptive team, where everybody’s in chairs, they are located in St. Louis, so I don’t get to focus on training with an official (adaptive) coach for me. The coaches for me here at the high school have done a phenomenal job in making sure they can better me and help me.”

Ledford talked about her goals for after high school.

“I want to go to the University of Illinois when I graduate,” Ledford said. “That’s probably my No. 1 goal, focusing on my academics and getting fast enough to go there. The head coach (Adam Bleakney) there is the head coach for the Paralympic team and I’ve trained with him and other Paralympic athletes during the summer. They have great facilities for athletes in wheelchairs, so I really want to go there and that’s one of my biggest goals.”

It won’t be a surprise if one day Ledford will compete in the Paralympic Games.

“That would be a goal for me in the long-term,” Ledford said. “At least making it one year, just qualifying. I would like to qualify and go.”

“That’s a goal for her,” Taute said. “She’s got big goals and she’s a national record holder, so I don’t think there’s anything that she can’t accomplish.”

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