Prayers answered: Finally pain-free, UNM sprinter Taniya Looney set for NCAA outdoor championships

For the better part of the last two years, Taniya Looney saw the prayer board every time she opened her laptop.

The collage features everything New Mexicos junior sprinter prayed for at the time: Caps and gowns, because Looney really wanted to graduate summa cum laude.

Healthy foods, because she was trying to eat better.

A few of the books she had read that year.

And Oregon the home of the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships, the pinnacle of collegiate competition.

Set as her home screen, the board was the first thing Looney saw almost daily, without her even thinking about it.

Last week, she opened her laptop and realized what she saw.

Her prayers had been answered.

She was going to Oregon.

I was just staring at it I was like, Wow, Im really about to go to Eugene, Looney said.

After recording a pair of personal bests, Looney is competing at the outdoor championships, which runs Wednesday-Saturday, in the womens 100- and 200-meter semifinals.

The Pittsburg State transfer notably ran a wind-aided 10.85 in the 100, the second-fastest time in the NCAA West Regional preliminary quarterfinals.

Now, Looney is the first Lobo to reach the outdoor championships in both events since Barbara Bell in 1984, a fitting finish to a season that saw her rewrite UNMs records in the womens 100 and 200.

All after years of near-constant pain.

All after she almost quit the sport.

All after her prayers were answered.

I dont know if I wrapped my head fully around everything thats happened, Looney said.

I think thats the beauty of it.

Looney fell in love with track as a child, regularly watching meets with her grandfather while growing up in Kansas City.

As a star athlete at Midwest City High School, she later chose the sport over multiple basketball offers and committed to Division II Pittsburg State in Kansas.

As a freshman, her decision seemed like the right one.

Looney ran at the NCAA Division II Outdoor Track and Field Championships, finishing 11th and 12th in the 200 (23.60) and 100 (11.45), respectively.

But she dealt with some mild hip pain, assuming then that it was the lingering effects of a hip fracture from high school.

As a sophomore, the pain worsened.

Looney underwent MRIs and X-rays to diagnose the cause, but nothing showed up.

She finished the year, but admitted it wasnt the best season as she dealt with constant discomfort on and off the track.

I was like, am I just making up these injuries? Looney remembered.

It was kind of exhausting trying to figure out what was wrong.

At the start of her junior year, she ran only one meet before deciding she couldnt go any further.

I told my coaches, We have to figure out whats wrong, Looney said.

Like, this is not mental Im exhausted, my body hurts.

She soon found out why.

In October of that year, Looney was admitted to the hospital with a ruptured ovarian cyst.

Doctors later discovered she had more than 17, many of which were too small to show up on previous scans.

The sharp, searing pain Looney dealt with was caused by cysts rubbing on her hip.

Once I had surgery, they told me I wasnt crazy, Looney said.

You had all of these cysts and they were so small that they werent showing, but they can cause a lot of pain.

But while Looney was relieved to finally know the cause of her pain, she was just as exhausted.

She considered leaving track behind, entering her name in the transfer portal to simply see what offers were out there.

Kyra Mohns UNMs sprint coach represented one of them.

Her times were really consistent, Mohns remembered.

And usually when youre consistent, theres a big drop (in time) coming.

As she talked with Mohns, Looney found she was interested in the Lobos, too.

She wanted somebody who could understand what she went through while serving as a mother figure.

That doesnt mean a male coach couldnt provide that for me, Looney added.

I was just looking for a motherhood, because I kind of had a fatherhood of coaches my whole entire life.

Looney committed to UNM at the end of last year and enrolled in January.

Things took off from there.

Mohns remembers Looney threw herself into workouts, later overcoming an injury during her first indoor season with the Lobos to go on to author one of the best outdoor seasons for any UNM sprinter in recent memory.

The biggest part? Looney says shes finally running almost entirely pain-free the answer to what she prayed for two years ago.

Everything on the prayer board kinda happened and not at the same time, Looney said.

But it just happened over the span of the last two years and I think sometimes we forget what we pray for, what we ask for you know, well say, Get us out of this five years ago and (you) look five years into the future, and were out of whatever situation we were in.

Were into that new blessing, like you opened a different door.

Sean Reider covers college football and other sports for the Journal.

You can reach him at [email protected] or via X at @lenaweereider..

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