You can make a case for Peyton Walker being the fastest of the Walker triplets, since she arrived in this world one minute before Jackson and two minutes ahead of Robert.

“I don’t know about that,” she says, but then again while all three of these seniors are headed to Montana Tech, it is Peyton that has a scholarship to run track for the Orediggers.

“This last fall they reached out to me,” she said. “I just really liked the community, and the coaches were great. I liked the smallness of (Butte). It’s Kalispell-like.”

What Tech gets is an athlete Flathead girls track coach Kaylee Fox raves about: A senior leader who embraces one of the tougher races out there, the open 400.

“At any level, it’s a full-on sprint. You have to maintain that fast pace for a full lap,” Fox said. “The grit to power through that kind of race, she has that.

“She’s worked consistently the last four years and has been steadily getting better, every season.”

Right now Walker sits 55 seconds off the State AA qualifying mark in the 400. She didn’t run it Tuesday at a triangular in Missoula; she was supposed to run the first leg on the 1,600-meter relay before lightning near MCPS Stadium cut the meet short.

That long relay has qualified for state, for the record. Walker ran first on a quartet — along with Alivia Rinehart, Bailey Wride and Mauraia Nigon — that clocked 4 minutes, 10.63 seconds on April 15. In Fox’s memory, and she’s been coaching track at Flathead for 12 years, this is early.

“Sometimes it’s like the last meet of the season and we’re still trying to get qualified,” she said. But the Bravettes have been building themselves up, and it helps to have Walker setting the early pace. Sometimes she anchors, but Fox likes having her run up front.

It’s a 400, after all. Walker doesn’t mind, mostly.

“I would definitely say it’s a love-hate relationship,” she said of what she calls her go-to event. “It’s super rewarding to finally get the time you’ve been shooting for. But it’s also definitely one of the more painful races I’ve run.”

Jackson and Robert both played football for the Braves, fighting injury along the way. This past winter the pair could be seen sitting courtside at the Flathead gym, at a portable desk adorned “ESPN” complete with headsets and (we assume) compelling post-game interviews.

Peyton, meanwhile, was wrestling for a second straight season. Before that?

“Basketball and cross country my freshman and sophomore years,” she said. “Then I switched to soccer and wrestling my junior year. Senior year I switched to cross country and wrestling.”

She’s won eight letters, a total that might take, say, three Walkers to achieve, she did herself. Not that she’d ever lord that over anyone.

“I honestly don’t know any different,” she said of growing up a triplet. “But I wouldn’t have it any other way. Competition-wise, they’ve been an inspiration — with their injuries, and how they’re stayed positive. I love them. They’re great.”

The Archie Roe Invitational is Saturday at Legends Stadium. The weather may not cooperate, but Peyton Walker will run the 400. She wouldn’t have it any other way.

Fritz Neighbor can be reached at 758-4463 or [email protected].