Gracie Hunt felt the “energy of tension” in the final seconds of the 2023 AFC Championship Game.
After Kansas City and the Cincinnati Bengals were tied at 20 in the fourth quarter, Hunt — the daughter of Chiefs owner Clark Hunt — lined up kicker Harrison Butker for a 45-yard field goal attempt from Arrowhead Stadium. Seen happening that could have sent the Chiefs. Super Bowl 2023 after last year’s overtime heartbreak. As Butker’s kick went over the top, Hunt recalled the scene of “absolute devastation” all around him.
“There was a lot of tense energy because we all prepared Harrison to take that kick, but deep down, I felt like he was going to make it,” Hunt, 23, told The Post.
“Once the field goal went by, it was total mayhem, we were jumping around and hugging each other and we looked each other in the eye and were like, ‘We’re going to the Super Bowl. are!’ It takes a little bit of processing because it’s so real in the moment, but it was the purest excitement and the purest joy.
A lot has changed for Hunt since the Chiefs last won the Super Bowl in February 2020, when they beat the San Francisco 49ers 31-20 in Miami. The lifelong athlete, whose college soccer hopes were derailed after sustaining four losses, then entered pageantry and was crowned Miss Kansas USA in April 2021, at the age of eight by her mother, Tavia Hunt. 28 years after the honor.
Hunt competed in Miss USA in November 2021 and was placed in the top 16. Although the Special Olympics ambassador has moved on from competitions, she is now satisfying her competitive hunger with marathon running after running her first race “very spontaneously” this past July.
“I signed up for my first marathon about 13 hours before the race started,” said Hunt, who stumbled upon a sign for the event after hiking with her mother.
“I had never run a registered race before this point or run more than 13 miles in a row, and that was several years ago on a treadmill… [I] Took a chance, registered about 5 o’clock that evening, and ran it the next day at 6 o’clock in the morning, and finished it in three hours and 45 minutes, and that started my marathon career.”
Now gearing up to run in the Boston Marathon this April, Hunt is embracing a new style of training, different from her soccer days and competition preparation.
Gracie Hunt’s family supports her as she races in 2022.
Gracie Hunt competed in her first race in July 2022.
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Gracie Hunt is set to run the Boston Marathon in April 2023.
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“When I played football, I liked to run to supplement my cardio for my endurance on the field. For the marathon, it’s different because you really have to teach your body how to run long. The duration of labor is to manage,” Hunt said.
“You have to build endurance and train yourself to handle it, it’s a regular 13-mile run and a 14-mile race, so it’s very different. I’d say Miss USA training. Hooker, it’s very different but I also like it because it’s allowed me to get back to my competitive roots.
While competing for Miss USA, Hunt enlisted walking coach Kristen Bradford to help her through what she described as her “hardest” part of the competition.
If you’ve seen ‘Miss Congeniality’, when? [Michael Caine’s character, Victor Melling] tells [Sandra Bullock’s character, Gracie Hart] It’s not easy to glide when you’re walking on stage in those stilettos and you don’t think about things like the weight of the dress, and if it’s cut or not, and how that affects your weight and your movement. What effect does it have? ” Hunt detailed to The Post in December 2021.
Although Hunt has “an entire lineup of bucket list marathons” in his back pocket, for now, he and his family are focused on the 2023 Super Bowl in Glendale, Arizona, where he will continue the pregame tradition with his father. Hopes. .
“I grew up tailgating with him before all the games and going out and seeing the fans because his energy and enthusiasm is unmatched in the league, so we were blown away before the game. [AFC Championship] game and it was cold, and it was just me and my dad hanging out with the fans, and it was a special thing because I grew up doing that with him, and I know he did that with his dad. Has grown up doing. [the late Lamar Hunt]” Hunt said.
“I know it means a lot to him to spend that time with the fans, so that’s something we’ll definitely be doing on Super Bowl Sunday, working with our amazing Chiefs fans, So we’re really looking forward to it.”
Just as Kansas City opened the season with a dominating 44-21 win over the Cardinals in Arizona, Hunt and the rest of the Chiefs Kingdom are looking to close out the year in similar fashion.
“We’re excited to hopefully end our season with a win in Arizona the way we started it with a win in Arizona,” he said. “I’m pretty sure all of Kansas City is coming to Arizona, so I hope it’s ready to be filled with red and gold.”
The 2023 Super Bowl between the Chiefs and Eagles begins on Sunday, February 12.
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