Some sprinters are loners, consumed by the unforgiving precision required by their craft, where a milliseconds lapse can lead to failure.

Maiya Dendy has none of that sensibility. The most accomplished sprinter in Delaware history thrives on her friendships with Padua’s other seniors. She mentors freshmen on their starts, and others on how to teach the technique.

She was even the manager for Padua’s cross country team as she loped across hills to prepare for her sprinting seasons.

“I can’t leave my team,” says Dendy of her season as manager. “I like the atmosphere of cross country, watching them tackle the hills.”

“As gifted as she is, Maiya performs better when she’s running with the team than when she’s off on her own,” coach Marnie Giunta said. “It’s sisterhood. Everybody responds to one another.”

Dendy faces multiple goals

as she enters her final high school season. She will try to break all three state records in the outdoor sprints, marks she already owns. She’ll help her teammates improve and try to avoid injury as the nurtures a career of singular potential.

Taming the hamstring injury that slowed her through 2014, Maiya Dendy dominated the indoor season as she shattered the 13-year-old indoor 200-meter record and won four events at the state meet to lead Padua to its third consecutive championship.

In a winter when Middletown’s Ashley Bailey extended her state pole vault record to 12 feet 8¾ inches – after Padua’s Kelly Muschiatti had overtaken the record for several weeks – and Caesar Rodney’s Jeanette Bendolph ran the second fastest 800 in state history (2:15.62), Dendy was named the state’s outstanding indoor track and field athlete, regaining the award she won as a sophomore.

The hamstring injury forced her to train sparingly throughout 2014, following a mercurial 10th grade when Dendy broke state records, two of which had lasted more than a decade, in the 100, 200 and 400.

A series of hamstring tears, three in succession at one point, forced her to train off the track. “When I finally got back to running, the week after that I would tear it again,” says Dendy.

The experience has accelerated her maturity, as she balances her long-term goals with her team’s needs.

Last May, she skipped the New Castle County meet, which Padua won anyhow, so she could peak in statewide competition. She won two events and finished second in two others to help Padua romp in Division I, then became the only double winner in the Meet of Champions, repeating in the 100 and 200 meters.

Conserving her resources meant giving up runs last summer with father Mark and her sister, Micaiah, a sophomore at St. Georges who has twice won the indoor state triple jump championship. Instead of a summer tour on the national circuit, she spent the summer biking, lifting weights and cross-training in the Middletown YMCA pool.

Last fall, she returned for an autumn of long slow distance as manager for her state championship distance teammates.

“It’s not just about running. You also have to do a little alternate speed with distance and weight room. You have to rest,” says Dendy. “Rest is good for the body.”

The rest proved fruitful this winter, when her running resumed full intensity. At Penn State on Jan. 24, she ran the 200 in 24.11 seconds, not only a gaping .6 seconds faster than the previous record set in 2002 by Kalimah Salaam of Glasgow, but also the best in the nation.

Nationwide notice is not unprecedented for her family. Her brother Marquis, Delaware’s 2014 co-athlete of the year, became the world’s leading triple jumper this winter with a 57-foot leap at the NCAA meet last month, while repeating as long jump champion.

Headed to the University of South Carolina, Maiya Dendy abstained from outdoor training until the warmth belatedly arrived this month.

“I am trying to shoot for the records, to beat my sophomore year self, to prove to myself that I can still do those times again,” says Dendy, a student of the sport.

“My starts could be a lot better. I think I have my drive phase and my finish, but my first five steps could be more powerful,” says Dendy of her 100. In the 200, her strength enables her to accelerate as her competition flags in the final 40 meters.

In the 400, Dendy can launch quickly, level off, then quicken as she closes.

“Most people have a struggle with that, but I think I’ve gotten better with it,” she says. “The difference is my patience, trusting my training.”
The News Journal