Palmerton’s Nataly Walters recently announced she would be continuing her track and field career at the University of North Florida.

“Today it was kind of more exciting to let everyone know, because only a few of my close friends and family knew. None of my coaches knew, and it was a big surprise,” Walters said of her decision to attend the Division 1 school. “And now that everyone knows, I’m even more excited. Senior year is a big year ... you want to hit all these goals before you graduate. But now doing this, it just makes me even more excited to move on to that next chapter.”

“Picking UNF, I had tons of great, great, great options, it was about where did I love it most. When I was down on my visit, maybe the track facility was different from other ones. But that was where I truly loved it the most. And they gave me a great offer. I truly love the beach and everything. Now to be at the beach constantly, and getting to live there. It’s going to be awesome, and I’m just really excited. And I’m not only going there for track; obviously that’s going to be a really big factor but I’m also going to go there to become a nurse, and that’s the even bigger part. I’m just very excited and just want to thank all my friends and family and everyone who has supported me along the way.”

The decorated senior has already won three PIAA Championships and set several league, district and all-time area best marks during her career.

“She’s the best, and the reason why is because she is so devoted to the sport,” said Palmerton jump coach Jim Hay. “There’s probably not a day throughout the year that she doesn’t go without either thinking about her events, practicing her events or doing something that’s going to make her a better jumper. She has great genetics with her father and her mother, they were very good track athletes. She works with a personal trainer. Just last week she did 19-feet in a meet at Lehigh University. Tell me who’s doing that right now in the Lehigh Valley?”

Last year, Walters, who has won the last two Times News/Lehigh Valley Health Network Female Track and Field Athlete of the year awards, was first in the Class 2A long jump at states, second in the triple jump and helped the 400 relay team place sixth. As a sophomore, she won both the 2A long jump and triple jump. She was seventh in the long jump as a freshman.

The Bombers will move up to 3A this season, a move that will challenge the team and Walters. But it is also an opportunity for what is sure to be a special season for the program and Walters.

“The thing that separates Nataly from so many other athletes, so many great athletes, is her competitive fire,” said Palmerton track and field coach Mike Gombert. “That’s what it comes down to. She is such a competitor, always looking for the next challenge. And she has some challenges ahead of herself this high school season. Those challenges are going to come soon enough.

“Bumping up to 3A, you can look at that a couple of different ways. But what it does do is it opens up the possibility of some more records for her to target and hopefully break. They’re great records, at the district level the triple is 40-plus and the long jump is 20-plus. But her competitive nature, once we get to that point in the season, she’s definitely going to zero in on that possibility because she has the 2A records. This opens the door for her to etch her name in the records books at another level. And that’s really exciting.”