After finishing second in the long jump as a junior at last year’s Class A indoor track state championship, Lewiston’s Adela Kalilwa gets a second chance at a state title this year. She has her eyes on the same prize in a second event, as well, as she currently has the best mark in the state in the triple jump.

Kalilwa was the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference champion in the long jump as a junior, with a span of 17 feet. She leaped farther than that a week and a half later at the Class A state championship, jumping 17 feet, 1 inch, but that was only good enough for second place that day. Thornton Academy’s Tori Daigle won the title with a best jump of 18 feet, 2 inches.

“She just deserved it. And I want to be that person this year,” Kalilwa said. “She’s gone and I have to go get it. This year it’s all mine.”

Kalilwa also competed in the triple jump at the state championships, and finished a respectable 10th with a leap of 32 feet, 8.5 inches.

A 10th-place finish won’t suffice for Kalilwa this season, nor will a jump in the 32-foot range.

She was the hunter last year, but now is the hunted, all while hunting her own marks.

“I really have to keep getting better, because I see some other kids from other teams,” Kalilwa said. “They’re coming after me, so I have to run away from them. That’s my goal.”

Whether she is trying to catch up or pull away, Lewiston head coach Paul Soracco said Kalilwa is always driven.

“She has the drive, which is great to see in an athlete. Just not the raw talent, but the drive to want to win, to be a champion,” Soracco said.

This is just Soracco’s second year as the Blue Devils’ coach, but his arrival has meant everything to Kalilwa’s development as a jumper.

“My junior year, since coach Soracco came in, things changed,” Kalilwa said. “I spent a lot of time in the weight room.”

“I started getting her on a leg program last year,” Soracco said. “She has just gotten so much stronger. I had her doing sets of squats with 210 (pounds). A lot of boys aren’t doing that. And a lot of it’s confidence too. She knows she’s stronger, she knows what a difference that makes.”

Kalilwa said strength was the one thing she was missing when Soracco came on board, as she already had the natural speed. Marrying that raw speed with the new-found strength has paid dividends for Kalilwa.

So with a solid foundation of speed and strength, it was onto some more changes for Soracco and Kalilwa this year.

“The best thing that I’ve seen in her this year is consistency,” Soracco said. “Last year, she’d win, but she’d maybe foul twice and then rip off a decent jump to win. This year, she’s right on the mark. We’ve got her steps down. She’s been working with (assitant coach Carolyn) Court on that. She’s got three good jumps, and they’re right there. That’s what we want to see, is consistency. That has been her best plus this year, I think.”

Soracco also said Kalilwa is thinking less during the meet, instead letting her ability and instincts take over. That has helped with the consistency.

Kalilwa set a high baseline at the USM Relays the day after Christmas. She recorded jumps of 16 feet, 7.75 inches in the long jump and 35 feet, 8 inches in the triple jump — both state-bests so far this season.

But there’s still more to come this year. Kalilwa said she wants to surpass 18 feet in the long jump — “at least 18,” she said — and Soracco foresees “a big one” in the triple jump, where Kalilwa could get into the 36 or 37-foot range.

It’s all lofty but attainable goals for Kalilwa, who wants more after being close to the top of the podium at last year’s state championship.

“For her, I know last year she was disappointed,” Soracco said. “She’s hungry. She knows it’s hers to win or lose. It all has to do with what kind of drive and the time that she wants to put in. I know she’s going to do it. I know she’s hungry. And I can’t wait to see it happen.

“I don’t think she’s really reached her full potential this year. And I think the best has yet to come for her.”

wkramlich@sunjournal.com

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