Background

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Multiple Time U.S National Champion in the Women’s Triple Jump, Vanitta Kinard has dedicated her life and talent to the sport of Track and Field. After being introduced to the sport by her high school friends, her talents afforded her the opportunity to attend Santa Monica Junior College on a full scholarship. It was during those years at Santa Monica junior college that Vanitta fully recognized her ability and made the decision to focus on maximizing her potential as an athlete. Her determination led to multiple California Junior College Titles and caught the eye of many of the best jump coaches in the nation. After receiving interest from dozens of colleges and Universities, Vanitta chose to take her talents to Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kansas. Success continued to follow Vanitta during her time at Kansas State University, as she went on to earn multiple Big 8/B 12 conference titles. Her accomplishment at Kansas State allowed her to earn multiple All-American awards and stake claim to 2 school records. Her accomplishments were recognized in 2005 as she was inducted into the Kansas State University Hall of Fame.

After attaining a Bachelor Degree in Sociology, Vanitta had the opportunity to compete professionally in the Triple Jump. As the Triple Jump slowly began to garner popularity among women across the globe, Vanitta cemented herself as one of the best in the United States and a consistent international competitor representing the U.S.During her professional career, she was never ranked outside of the top 5 United States and won back-to-back United States titles in the Triple Jump in 2002 and 2003.In 2004, tragedy struck. While training for a chance to represent The United States of America at the Athens Olympic Games, Vanitta’s mother was murdered by an abusive spouse. While dealing with the sudden and tragic loss of her mother, Vanitta pushed through and stayed committed to years of sacrifice and competed at the US Olympic Trials. Finishing third place and mere inches from having the chance to represent the USA in the Olympic Games, she calls this performance one of the greatest of her life.

Always having a passion for children and mentoring, merging her desires to see the sport continue to progress and develop youth, she soon found herself back on the track. Success was not far behind her many stops along the coaching trail. Having recruited and coached multiple Olympians. NCAA national champions, SEC/Big 10 conference champions and numerous school record holders, Vanitta has again cemented herself as one of the nation’s best jump and sprints coaches. Leaving a trail of unprecedented success, she has worked at: Kansas State University, University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV) The University of Mississippi(Ole Miss), and Michigan State University. During her latest stint at Michigan State University , the Spartans experienced unprecedented team success; culminating in multiple school records and the first Big-10 Outdoor Track and Field Team title in over 3 decades. She still continues to coach professional and elite high school athletes with the goals of developing the athletes to reach their full potential in track and field.  With a passion for the sport, she has taken special focus on the horizontal jumps and has desires to continue encouraging and developing women’s participation in the jumpings events