Friday Night Sports Hero: Donte Koif

NORTH PLATTE, Neb. (KNOP) - Since he was in eighth grade Donte Koif has been working to make it to the State Track and Field Meet. This year, his Senior Year, he finally made that dream a reality. Koif didn’t just qualify in one of his events for the State Meet he qualified in two; the 4x1 and the long jump.

Last season, Koif was incredibly close to qualifying for State. After last season’s close call he’s been working hard to ensure a trip to Omaha this season.

“It feels really incredible to be honest. I’m very proud of myself and even if I don’t do that well at State I’m just gonna be proud that I made it just cause it’s something that I’ve been wanting for for so long. And then all that work that I’ve put in since like January, even before then years prior, to see it all come to this it’s like a really good feeling for me,” says Donte.

This year Koif was on the 4x1 relay which broke the school record. The new school record is set at 42.47. Koif describe breaking the record as an amazing and incredible feeling.

“Upon breaking the school record I didn’t think it was real at first, cause at the beginning of the season when we first ran the 4x1 we were close. Only by a couple few tenths of a second we were close. And so, when we finally beat it at this meet I had looked up at the time clock and I was like is that real. It didn’t seem real at first but it was a really feel good feeling because everyone came up and was like did you see what you did or you ran so good,” explains Koif.

Looking back over his four year’s running at North Platte Koif says he doesn’t have one memory in particular that was his favorite, but rather a collection of all the good times he’s shared with his teammates.

“I don’t think I have one particular favorite memory, although I think my favorite thing about track in general is just my teammates and comradery that we all have. Just getting on the bus towards meets, the energy at the meets and even the energy in practice or afterwards is just always incredible it’s always fun to be around. So that’s probably my favorite memory or just my favorite thing in general about track,” says Koif.

Koif says he wants to leave this message behind for his younger teammates still on the track team, to never give up and to never quit working.

“I wanna leave a good impression on all my coaches and all my teammates, especially all the new teammates coming in. Say a message about just keep at it because you will get better with experience age and maturity. You will get better. That’s just life in general, so that’s probably the legacy I wanna leave is just keep at it, keep getting better and it will pay off one day,” explains Koif.

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