Iowa track and field’s Mallory King remains determined following season’s cancellation
King, who overcame an injury to become Iowa’s top 800 meters runner, is returning for a fifth year after the remainder of the 2020 track and field season was canceled.
Iowa’s Mallory King high fives 4x400m relay premier teammates Davicia Patterson, Jenny Kimbro, and Aly Weum during the Larry Wieczorek Invitational at the University of Iowa Recreation Building on Jan. 18, 2020. The group took second in the premier with a 3:39.67.
July 2, 2020
In both sports and life, there is something to be said for controlling what you can control, and Iowa track and field’s Mallory King is no stranger to that.
During her four years at Iowa, King has often shown great resilience. After overcoming a stress injury in her shin from September of 2018, King ran a new personal best in the 800 meters (2:05.12) this February. This time — a 16-second improvement from her high school best — qualified her for NCAA Indoor Nationals, which were canceled due to COVID-19 pandemic almost as soon as the team landed in Albuquerque, New Mexico, for the meet.
“I was heartbroken when I found out I wouldn’t be able to compete at the national meet this year,” King said. “But I had a lot of support from my teammates and coaches reminding me of how special it was to have worked as hard as I did to qualify for the meet in the first place. I have been reminding myself that there will be more opportunities to compete for Iowa.”
More opportunities will come for King, who is returning for a fifth year to run at Iowa.
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King’s injury and the season cancellation leaves her with one more year of eligibility in both indoor and outdoor track. Her work ethic and ability to shine a positive light on suboptimal situations is serving her well now.
“Training during the pandemic has made me more appreciative of the facilities and resources that are available to me at Iowa and even more appreciative of the great group of girls I get to train with at Iowa,” King said. “In general, the pandemic has made me more grateful for the sport of running. Even though the setting is different than I am used to, training has been a great outlet for me during these times.”
King, who at one point wasn’t even sure she wanted to run track in college, now holds the No. 2 all-time best 800 time at Iowa.
“Fall of my senior year of high school, I got an email from [Iowa assistant coach Jason] Wakenight inviting me on a visit to Iowa,” King said. “Coach Wakenight saw potential in me that I hadn’t ever thought of, and when I visited campus, I could see myself being part of the team.”
King attributes her success over the past four years to totally trusting in her training plan and believing she can achieve any goal that she and her coaches set.
Not having the opportunity to run at the national meet has motivated her to set even higher goals for her final season. After already overcoming an injury in her Iowa career, King is set to battle back after losing the chance to compete at one of the biggest meets of her career.
And she will have a good time doing it.
“If I could tell my freshman-self one thing, it would be to be more confident, not be afraid to push the limits, and truly enjoy the whole process,” King said.