<body><div><figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=0dsrrv_0tMxjidk00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=0dsrrv_0tMxjidk00" width="1280" height="890" ><figcaption>Palmerton junior Nataly Walters flies off the runway at Shippensburg University's Seth Grove Stadium on Friday in the 2A long jump at the PIAA track and field championships. She won her third state title. Photo courtesy Rob Lombardo</figcaption></figure>Nataly Walters knows Nataly Walters pretty well.“Nataly Walters is never calm,” said the Palmerton junior of herself in the third person.That may well be, but Walters has few peers in successfully dealing with the pressure cooker that is Shippensburg’s Seth Grove Stadium on Memorial Day weekend.Walters won state titles in the long and triple jump last year and stands halfway towards a stunning repeat after winning the PIAA Class 2A long jump at the state meet on a warm but lovely Friday afternoon.Walters won her third state gold with a jump of 18 feet, 8¾ inches, with West Catholic freshman Aimrah Crabbe second at 18-4¼.“I’m very happy,” Walters said. “I had high hopes for today of jumping my personal best (19-1½, which she jumped as a sophomore) but this is a season-best, and I felt a lot of pressure being the defending champion that I am.”There’s no doubt the state meet is different when you’re the athlete being pointed at by everybody else, the one with the proverbial target on your back.Dealing with that kind of pressure and expectations is one of the elements that separate elite athletes from the average, and Walters, who will go for a triple jump repeat at 12:30 p.m. Saturday, has figured it out.Not that it’s ever easy, or obvious.‘I was very nervous last night,” she said. “I kind of slept well, thought our (Shippensburg) dorm sounded like someone was mowing the lawn all night. But distractions cause you to misstep and I didn’t let that happen.” After all, Walters had been there before.“Experience (at states) is the best experience you can have,” she said. “Little things, like what to bring and what not to. Last year, I didn’t have an umbrella or a chair or a cooler, I had a water bottle that got a little warm. This year, I brought a backpack cooler, and a folding chair, and an umbrella. I think states means everybody had a little more pop in their steps.”So, having settled down (or as much as she can) and being well-equipped, Walters was ready to take on the competition.“I went into the long jump so confident, I was hoping to hit my best jump and break my PR, but I am totally fine especially with trying to get our (400) relay into the finals (from Friday’s preliminaries).”That latter was a curve the ball the schedule tossed up, When jumpers are also in running events, there is no allowance made for the athlete – they jump and run when they are told, or they don’t jump or run at all. Walters is used to the relay affecting her jump, but she said in most meets it’s usually with her triple jump.“Today the relay was at noon (and the long jump at 12:30) and luckily we were in the first heat,” Walters said.Walters did her part on the track and the Blue Bombers ran 49.29 seconds, a season-best, to post the No. 6 qualifying time and make Saturday’s 1:05 p.m. final – right in the middle of the triple jump. The relay is guaranteed a medal, so Walters has two in her bag now.“I had to go away from celebrating with my teammates to check in for jumping,” she said. “That’s what you give up, doing multiple events, things like celebrating our time with my teammates. So, I ran over to the long jump, as calm as I can be, and my first jump was nerve-wracking, but I did (18-3¼) and I was okay from there.”Getting that good, solid first jump in settled Walters’ nerves and allowed to pop the winning jump on the second try.‘My first jump was a little behind the board,” she said. “I knew I could do better. I do a lot of self-talk, saying things like ‘I have done this before’ and ‘You know what your are doing.’ It sounds silly, but it works for me.”Whatever Nataly Walters is doing right `now sure is working just fine for her.Thank you for relying on us to provide the journalism you can trust. Please consider supporting <a href="https://www.lehighvalleylive.com/">lehighvalleylive.com</a> with a voluntary subscription.Brad Wilson may be reached at <a href="mailto:bwilson@lehighvalleylive.com">bwilson@lehighvalleylive.com</a>.</div></body>

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Third state jumping championship comes pretty calmly for Palmerton's Walters

Nataly Walters knows Nataly Walters pretty well. “Nataly Walters is never calm,” said the Palmerton junior of herself in the third person. That may well be, but Walters has few peers in successfully dealing with the pressure cooker that is Shippensburg’s Seth Grove Stadium on Memorial Day weekend.

Third state jumping championship comes pretty calmly for Palmerton's Walters

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