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Candace Hill sets National High School Record in 100-meter dash - Brooks PR Invitational 2015 Recap

Published by
DyeStat.com   Jun 22nd 2015, 6:04pm
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Candace Hill

Candace Hill's historic sprint: 10.98 seconds in 100-meter dash

 

By Erik Boal, DyeStatCAL Editor

 

Candace Hill used to participate in color guard, before conflicts with her competitions and track meets forced her to make a decision to focus solely on running.

There was a changing of the guard in U.S. prep sprinting Saturday at the Brooks PR Invitational courtesy of the 16-year-old sophomore from Rockdale County High in Georgia.

Hill ran a wind-legal 10.98 seconds in the 100-meter dash to set National High School, American Junior and World Youth records at Shoreline Stadium in Shoreline, Wash.

“I’m speechless right now, just speechless. I’m still in shock,” Hill said. “Running a 10.9 and running the fastest ever time by a high school girl, it’s pretty awesome right now. There’s a lot going on. There’s a lot to comprehend.”

Hill smashed the previous U.S. high school and World Youth records of 11.10 set by former Clermont East Ridge (Florida) star Kaylin Whitney at last year’s U.S. Junior Outdoor Championships at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore.

“I just felt like I ran a normal race and then when they said 10.9, I was like ‘It has to be so wind-aided, like +4.0 or +5.0, something ridiculous like that.’ But they said it was 2-something,” Hill said. “It feels incredible. I feel like I have a bright future ahead of me and I feel like if I keep doing what I’m doing and stay humble, I feel like I can go far.”

Whitney made the decision to skip her junior season to turn professional and sign with Nike.

Hill is committed to running June 30 and July 1 at the World Youth Trials in Lisle, Ill., with the goal of making the U.S. roster to compete July 15-19 at the IAAF World Youth Championships in Cali, Colombia.

Hill’s time broke the American Junior record of 11.03 set in 2011 by former Oregon standout English Gardner at the old Pac-10 Conference Championships in Arizona. Her performance ranks fourth in the U.S. and 10th overall in the world this year.

“It was close to perfect,” Hill said. “I felt like my start was OK and I felt like all parts of my race were good and my finish was strong and I felt like everything came into place today and the wind was on my side finally. I’m glad it was.”

The race produced the top five wind-legal 100 times in the country this year, with California state champion Zaria Francis of Rio Mesa runner-up in 11.26 and Florida 2A state winner Alfreda Steele of Pasco placing third in 11.33. Florida 4A state champion Krystal Sparling of St. Thomas Aquinas, a Texas A&M signee, and California state runner-up Lauren Rain Williams of Oaks Christian were both timed in 11.37.

“I don’t even know if there is a word to describe it. She broke the high school record, so that’s just amazing. It’s just crazy,” Steele said. “I was so honored to be on the podium with the person that broke the record. I was just amazed.”

Hill could potentially be teammates on the U.S. roster competing at the World Youth Championships with several athletes she lined up against Saturday and is already looking ahead to the possibility of winning a gold medal in the 4 x 100 relay in Colombia.

“It was cool because I had heard (Zaria and Lauren) just had their state meet and they both ran awesome times because they pushed each other, so I was like maybe we’ll all push each other and run PRs at this meet,” Hill said. “We’ll probably break the record with those girls. I feel like we’re all running fast for this age. Who knows? We could run 42, low 43s.”

Hill is one of four high school females to set a national high school record this year, following Bishop Gorman (Nevada) high jumper Vashti Cunningham and Connellsville Area (Pennsylvania) javelin thrower Madison Wiltrout. Kate Hall of Lake Region (Maine) set the long jump record Sunday with a wind-legal 22-5 at the New Balance Outdoor Nationals in North Carolina.

Hill will have the opportunity to run the 100 and 200 in Illinois, also targeting the low-altitude U.S. high school and World Youth 200 records of 22.49 set by Whitney last year. Allyson Felix, one of Hill’s idols in the sport, ran 22.11 at altitude in Mexico City as a high school senior in 2003.

“Running 10.9 is really amazing. That was one of my goals for junior year or senior year, not my sophomore year. I didn’t think I could run that fast already,” Hill said. “I feel like my career changes every second.”

The entire landscape of American prep sprinting changed Saturday with the first sub-11 100-meter dash produced by Hill.

 

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