LAUREL — Kaitlyn Dantic was little, perhaps in fourth grade, she recalled, when brother Beau would take his sister to the backyard and work on speed drills with her.
Eventually, the duo would lift weights together, shoot baskets together in the cul de sac of the family Laurel home, and the time with Beau sparked Kaitlyn’s competitive drive.
She was always trying to outdo her brother.
“He made working out fun,” Kaitlyn said before a recent Laurel track-and-field practice. “And after he graduated (in 2022), that’s something that just carried on for me. I definitely wouldn’t be where I’m at today without him.”
And where is Kaitlyn today? She’s a highly decorated three-sport star for the Locomotives, and she’ll leave high school next month with 12 varsity letters.
She helped Laurel win state soccer championships as a freshman and senior, scoring 40 career goals along the way. In the meantime, that family basketball rim took a beating.
Wearing headphones and using the time as “kind of therapy to me,” Dantic worked endlessly on her shot for hours on end, improving her 27% 3-point percentage as a freshman to leading Class A in her junior and senior seasons. Dantic was a state-best 45% from the arc as a junior and her 53% was tops this past season.
As for track, Dantic’s name appears more than any other on the list of records for the Locomotives’ girls program. Dantic has set or been a part of school records in the 100-meter dash (12.31 seconds), the 200 (25.1), the 400 relay (49.72) and the 1,600 relay (4:03.18.) She’s been an important cog on the relays since her freshman season.
“She’s been our big dog, if you will,” Locomotives track coach Brandi Fox said. “She is the one to beat, the one to chase, and I’m going to miss her terribly when she’s gone.”
Dantic is doing some chasing of her own. Despite her school records and wins in regular-season races, she has yet to claim state gold. She’s helped Laurel’s 400-meter relay team take second place twice, and her highest individual finish is third in the 100 at last year’s state meet.
She entered that race with the top time in and with hopes of not only winning but with the intention of taking a real shot at the Class A record. Instead, she finished behind Havre’s Kaydance Reiter (12.27) and with the same time as Whitefish’s Rachael Wilmot (12.34), though Wilmot got the nod for the second-place medal.
“I’m not going to lie, it kind of hit me in the heart a little bit,” Dantic said of the third-place finish. “It was a little defeating, but just because you’re in lane five (the lane designated for the top qualifier) doesn’t mean you’re going to win every race. Anything can happen.”
Dantic has always adapted to the unexpected, and how she came to commit to the University of Montana for track is another example. Basketball had always been her first love and her expected future — Dantic counted Montana Tech among programs reaching out to her for hoops — but a sprinting career at Montana entered the picture with a little help from Reiter.
Although rivals on the track, Reiter and Dantic are friends off it. Reiter had previously committed to the Griz, and the Havre sprinter fostered a connection between the Griz coaching staff and Dantic that resulted in Dantic choosing the Missoula track-and-field program for her future exploits. Incidentally, Dantic and Reiter plan on rooming together at college.
In attending Montana, Dantic will be reunited in Missoula with Beau, who is three years older. He was on the Griz football roster for three seasons before deciding to retire from the sport.
It was Beau and father Brian who, noting Dantic’s speed in basketball and soccer, convinced her to go out for track in eighth grade, she said.
Though Dantic wasn’t convinced the sport was for her, Fox saw the potential right away.
“I just saw determination, there is just something that happens with her,” Fox said. “She just kind of switches, and you can see it. You can physically see the change in her from just working out to competition, to races.”
Besides her achievements in the 100, 200 and relays, Dantic also qualified to run the 400 at state last year, though she had run the event just twice. She declined to run the 400 at state, however, thinking she wasn’t ready for a five-event workload.
Plans are to run all five this year, with no preconceived expectations. She knows all too well how that can go in events measured in hundredths of seconds. Besides, she’s come to appreciate the chance to compete against equals like Reiter, Wilmot and others, who, Dantic said, bring out the best in each other.
“My freshman year, I used to be scared of that type of competition,” Dantic said. “The older I’m getting in this sport, I’m realizing that it’s so good for you. I don’t know what I’d do without it.
“I’m thankful to have the competition, for sure. It brings people out to watch us, too, because it’s fun to watch and it’s fun to race in. Before the race, the tension is definitely there … no one talks, everyone’s looking straight forward. But after, it’s all hugs and high fives. It’s kind of a little track family that we have going there.”
As Fox watched her sprinters go through their workout, she contemplated what Dantic has meant to her program, and to Laurel’s other athletic programs, as well.
Regardless of how Dantic fares at next month’s state meet, she’s made her mark.
“There’s a bar,” Fox said, “and she set it pretty high.”
Be it by blood or by competition, Dantic is grateful for both families that she’s been able to set that bar.
