The RoundHouse | 6/6/2025 7:20:00 AM
By
Paul Suellentrop
Destiny Masters did not expect any of this as a freshman, not to love track and field, not to wake up early almost every summer day to train at Cessna Stadium. Above all, neither she nor her coach expected her to grow into one of Wichita State's greats.
She did not, in 2019, expect to hear her coach describe her as "unique and difficult." She could not have anticipated nodding to acknowledge that, yes, I'm unique and difficult, and I earned that label with elite performance.
"She's a unique personality," said
Steve Rainbolt, director of track and field at Wichita State. "She laughs when she hears me say that, because that's a diplomatic way of saying, 'She can be difficult, man.'"
Destiny Masters
Perhaps that is the only way this works, the only way an athlete from Class 2A Bluestem could record average marks in a high school career limited by hip problems and climb to All-American honors.
She came to Wichita State unsure if she could compete. Rainbolt guided her to the multi-events because she didn't appear talented enough to specialize. Coaching college track and field, not a thought in 2019, is now her next step.
"I put so much trust in (Rainbolt) and his coaching," Masters said. "We work so good together because I am so honest with him, and I think he truly appreciates how honest I am."
Masters, a senior from El Dorado, competes in the heptathlon starting Friday in the NCAA Championships in Eugene, Ore. She is a five-time All-American, twice in the multi-events and three times in the high jump. Distance runner Aliphine Tuliamuk, with 11 All-American honors from 2011-13, is the only Shocker with more than Masters.
She ranks No. 15 entering the meet with a score of 5,715 points. She is aiming for WSU's record (5,899 points by Tanya Friesen in 2013) and a mark that qualifies her for the USATF Outdoor Championships in late July. The top eight finishers earn first-team All-American honors with the next eight on the second team. She finished 13
th last season with 5,691 points.
Six years after arriving at WSU, she is the example Rainbolt uses when he talks to his athletes about work and focus. He shows her high jump videos as a clinic, pointing with pride to the hip rotation most athletes can't duplicate.
"She is so competitive and so determined to be the best she can be," said
Sadie Millard, a junior teammate. "On Mondays, we do five different events and every single one she knows what she has to work on and how she can get better. Even if it's been four hours and we're all tired – she's not tired. She can keep going."
Out of all WSU's high-level multi-athletes, she is the unlikeliest success story.
"She trained it out," Rainbolt said. "She knew nothing. She came here as a high jumper."
You don't follow that path, build a close relationship with your coach, and conquer unfamiliar events without being unique enough to be difficult.
"He likes to say I'm unique and difficult," Masters said. "But he has figured it out. I definitely know I'm different."
Rainbolt and Masters figured out how to work together, when to give each other space, how to coach and how to adjust. The results add another small-town Kansan to the list of All-Americans guided by Rainbolt and his assistant coaches. If there is a native Kansan with a higher pentathlon score, Rainbolt can't find her in college record books.
Masters holds WSU's record in the pentathlon (4,338 points), a score that earned her sixth place and All-American honors in the 2024 NCAA Indoor Championships. She is tied atop WSU's indoor high jump list (6 feet, 1 ¼ inches). She is second in the outdoor high jump (6-3/4) and third in the heptathlon (5,749).
"Latent talent," Rainbolt said. "That means talent that is asleep in you. It's there, but it hasn't been brought out."
Masters woke it up. She improved, succeeded a bit and worked harder. When frustrated with a performance, she told Rainbolt to wait on his critique until she could process. He learned to listen to her vent and wait for the constructive part of the conversation. He adjusted her warmup routine because she prefers devoting less time than other athletes to stretching and jogging before a workout.
"She can be very tough to work with sometimes," Rainbolt said. "She's a tough girl who holds herself to a high standard. If it's not going well, she's frustrated to the point of being angry."
She is also the athlete who brought Rainbolt cups of water and a chair when he stood in the coaching area and the high temperature reached 98 during the NCAA West Preliminaries in College Station, Texas. When a recruit visited, she took the lead to call the breakfast restaurant when it opened to reserve a table for 13 and avoid a long wait for the family and coaches.
"This girl is sharp and on top of things, forward-thinking, beyond the level of most college kids," Rainbolt said. "Mature beyond her years in many respects."
Rainbolt points to her redshirt freshman season in 2021 as the turning point. She ran 14.44 seconds in the 100-meter hurdles at a meet and cleared 5-8 in the high jump.
"All of a sudden, we're looking at each other as a coaching staff and saying, 'What the heck, man, this girl is pretty good,'" Rainbolt said.
In the American Athletic Conference Outdoor Championships, she placed second in the high jump at 5-10 1/2. That finish started her path to 11 all-conference honors and five podium finishes in the high jump.
"I didn't think I would ever jump that high," she said.
Those success turned Masters into a devoted athlete.
She worked daily each summer with Rainbolt and former teammate
Kenisa Meyer. Masters had no throwing experience in high school. She scored points in the conference meet in the javelin and shot put during her career. She ranks eighth on WSU's javelin list at 155 feet 8 inches. Masters also ranks among WSU's career leaders in the 60 meters, the 60-meter hurdles and the long jump.
"We were on the track by 8 a.m. to beat the heat," she said. "We got a lot of work done. A lot of shot put. A lot of hurdles. I thought "OK, if I can be decent at this, I might as well pour myself into it. Let's see how good I can get."
Six years of working with Rainbolt, sometimes frustrated and often happily. Six years of working on footwork for the shot put and trying to conquer the 800 meters, her most hated event. Six years of championships, scoring points and competing against the nation's best around the country.
All six years at Wichita State.
Rainbolt will remember Masters for her determination, her attitude and her unlikely rise. He will remember the fact pole vault coach Pat Wilson, who died from brain cancer in 2023, is the person who saw her compete at a regional meet and recommended recruiting her. He will also remember Masters for her loyalty.
"She knew that she and I worked well together," Rainbolt said. "In today's world, with the transfer portal and everything, it doesn't seem like the fact that a coach and an athlete work well together is the determining factor. That doesn't seem to do it for some athletes. It did for her. She wanted to see how far we could go and how good she could get. And she got really good."
Coaches and athletes from other schools regularly recruited her.
"I like the thought of being in one jersey my whole career," she said. "I don't want to be in another jersey, if it's not the Shockers."
Six years in one jersey. Five All-American honors with a chance for one more, all in the same jersey.
"I came in not knowing much and Bolt is the one who taught me," she said. "Coach Heidi (Benton) in the long jump and Coach (Kirk) Hunter trying to keep me stable before the 800. They all taught me and made me the athlete I am, so why would I leave?"
Paul Suellentrop writes about Wichita State athletics for university Strategic Communications. Story suggestion? Contact him at paul.suellentrop@wichita.edu.
