Editor’s Note: Katie Taylor, a 2016 graduate of Hayward High School, won the National Championship in weight throw at the 2021 Division 2 Indoor Track & Field Championships. At Hayward, Taylor was part of a winning team that won both basketball and track state championships. She is a scholarship athlete for Division 2 Minnesota State, where she is a five-time All-American and now National Champion.
Katie is the youngest of three children of Bernard and Laura Taylor of LCO. She will graduate with a degree in interdisciplinary studies and will then begin a Master’s Degree in Sports Management at Minnesota State while continuing her career in track and field as a throws athlete, with an eye on becoming a college division one or two head track coach.
Birmingham, Ala.--- Katie Taylor claimed the NCAA National Championship in the weight throw, a first in that event for the Minnesota State Women's Track & Field program, on day one of the 2021 NCAA Division II Indoor Track & Field Championships. With teammate Brea Perron finishing fourth in the weight throw, earning five team points to go along with Taylor's 10, the Mavericks have a total of 15 team points after the first day of competition which has them in first place with Saginaw Valley in second with 10 team points.
Taylor, a senior from Hayward, Wis., progressed out of the first flight of throws with a top mark of 19.91m (65'4") surpassing her already school record throw of 64'6". In the final flight of throwing, Taylor threw a first round 20.44m (67'0.75") which would have been good enough to win the championship, if not for her final throw of 21.17m (69'5.5"). That final throw sets the Minnesota State Indoor track & field record while also currently ranking as the ninth best throw in DII history.
Taylor becomes the first Maverick to win a National Championship in the Indoor weight throw event, and the first Minnesota State women's track & field member to win a National Championship since Khadiya Hollingsworth won the title in the outdoor high jump in 2018. Taylor also becomes the eighth member of the Minnesota State Women's Indoor Track & Field program to win a National Championship with this being the 12th title for the program overall including outdoor.
Katie with the team National Runner Up trophy.