Delaney Wright named 2022 Louisburg Sports Zone Female Athlete of the Year

By Andy Brown
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Updated: July 5, 2022

Andy Brown / Louisburg Sports Zone

Delaney Wright had a junior year to remember.

She won three state titles in track and was also a key member of the girls basketball team that had the school’s best finish in 2021.

Life couldn’t have been better.

In 2022, Wright was poised for bigger and better things and it got off on the right foot with a commitment to run track and Kansas State University.

It was still a memorable time for the Louisburg senior, but her final campaign as a Wildcat was one that was filled with obstacles. It all started with one outside of the athletic arena.

Wright came home to find her house filled with smoke. Fire had erupted on one side of the house, causing major damage.

Luckily, no one was home at the time, but it was a major upheaval for Delaney and her family.

“Coming home to a house fire in the first semester of senior year, I wasn’t sure what was going to happen next,” Wright said. “I’m so thankful for our community and being so generous for helping us in many ways after it happened.”

If that wasn’t difficult enough, Delaney encountered one of the more bigger obstacles of her life.

During a shoot-around in January, Wright sustained a severe high-ankle sprain that forced her to miss half of her senior year of basketball.

Then came her track season, and despite a slower recovery than she would have hoped, Wright finished with three regional titles and three state medals, including a state runner-up finish in the 400-meter dash.

Her resiliency was one of the many reasons she was chosen as the 2022 Louisburg Sports Zone Female Athlete of the Year.

“I am honored and grateful to win this award,” she said. “Looking back on my last four years, senior year definitely was a character build for me.”

***The head coaches from Louisburg High School voted Tom Koontz and Delaney Wright as the Louisburg Sports Zone Athletes of the Year.***

It was a long road to recovery for Wright as she had ligament damage in her ankle that took a couple months to bounce back from.

Wright, who was known as the basketball team’s best defender, was forced to support her team from the bench and she became the team’s top cheerleader instead.

“Getting injured and sitting the bench my senior year was tough, I’m not going to lie,” Wright said. “But as I sat there and watched my teammates, I realized I can still be a team player and encourage them from the bench. I was grateful for the last three years of basketball and knew I never wasted a moment of it. I wouldn’t have kept a positive mindset without having God in my life.”

Then came track, where Wright was hoping to repeat as a state champion in all three of her events. Instead, hiccups came in her recovery and her timetable kept getting pushed back and she was running out of time.

Despite that, Wright still finished with the three regional titles and qualified for four events at state. She ended up with three state medals and finished with 10 for her career.

In turn, Wright became one of the more decorated female track athletes in Louisburg High School history.

“In the beginning of the track season I didn’t know if I was going to end up competing,” she said. “From swimming exercises to physical therapy and acupuncture, I was going to come back and at least compete.

“Being behind by a couple weeks and not having much strength though, didn’t stop me. By the time it was regionals I felt I was just starting. I was grateful I was able to compete one last time at state my senior year after everything that had happened.”

There are plenty of memories for Wright to look back on during her time at Louisburg and she definitely left her mark on a couple different programs. Now she is looking to create new ones as a member of the K-State track and field program.

“Being a 3-time state champion and going to state in basketball for the first time in 47 years sticks out the most to me, as well as all the other memories that came with,” Wright said. “I’m sad that I’m leaving it behind, but I’m looking forward to the future and excited to start my next chapter in track.”

Previous winners:

2018: Isabelle Holtzen

2019: Carson Buffington

2020: Reilly Ratliff-Becher