Whitney turns focus to gold at World Juniors
By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor
Even a week later, Kaylin Whitney is still coming to grips with her breakout performance at the U.S. Junior Track and Field Championships in Eugene.
Whitney, who will be a junior at East Ridge High School in Clermont, Fla. in the fall, is currently No. 8 in the world in the 200 with her time of 22.49. And her U.S. record 100 meters clocking of 11.10 is in the top 20 globally as well.
"That's ridiculous," Whitney said.
Whitney's idol, Allyson Felix, tweeted her congratulations after the meet was over, a gesture that Kaylin said was "humbling."
Whitney drove her PRs down over two days in Eugene, but her star has been on the rise ever since her earliest days on the playground, running circles around the other kids in kindergarten.
She began doing summer club track when she was seven and a year later she won three gold medals for first-place finishes at the AAU Junior Olympics.
Track and field has always been Whitney's sport. Her father, Duwayne, was a hurdler and high jumper for the 1993 NCAA champion Arkansas Razorbacks. Her mom was a high school volleyball player. An older brother, Tevin, also ran for Arkansas.
"I have always taken (track) very seriously," Kaylin said.
She has grown up in Clermont, a suburb to the west of Orlando, Fla. that is also the home of the National Training Center, a world-class training facility. Her parents both have jobs at Disney World, located about 15 minutes away. Her mom is a server in a restaurant. Her dad sells time-shares for the resort.
At the age of 12, already an age-group standout, the Whitneys contacted former Olympic sprinter and coach, Dennis Mitchell, about Kaylin.
"When I turned 12 and went to (Mitchell) I said I want to take this to the next level," Whitney said.
Under the guidance of Mitchell and his wife, Olympian Damu-Cherry Mitchell, Whitney had continued to progress.
As a freshman at East Ridge, Whitney won Florida 3A titles in both the 100 and 200. She was fifth in the Dream 100 at the adidas Grand Prix in New York. And she ran an 11.47/23.38 double (both times wind-aided) at the Great Southwest Classic.
Whitney opened her 2014 outdoor season with a wind-aided 11.36 at the Bob Hayes Invitational on March 15.
With an eye on peaking late in the season and making the World Junior team, Whitney was one of the national leaders in the 100 and 200 all spring. She repeated her Florida state titles, returned to New York and won there (11.27) and then won at the Brooks PR meet (11.35w) near Seattle.
Not everything went perfectly. She was second to Teahna Daniels of First Academy HS at the Florida Relays and at Great South.
"Those races gave me a wake-up call," Whitney said. "I changed how I was running. It did nothing but help me."
Whitney arrived in Eugene knowing that she would likely get her first head-to-head encounter with Ariana Washington and a determination that the most important goal was to make the team in both of her events.
"It was funny," she said. "At the beginning of the season my goals were to try to get PRs at (Junior) nationals and work on trying to make the relay by getting in the top six in the 100. As the season went on, I was getting more consistent and I thought 'I can make it in the 200 and get in the top two.' Then it was, 'Maybe I can win these things. That's a good goal.'"
Whitney ran a personal best 11.17 in the prelims before unleashing an all-time high school record 11.10 in the finals. Among other things, that broke a Florida state record held by legendary Chandra Cheeseborough since 1975.
The next day, brimming with confidence, she ran 22.49 in the 200 meters final. The only prep who has ever gone faster was Felix, and she ran her high school record 22.11 at altitude in Mexico City in 2003.
Whitney said there were no drastic changes to account for the improvement, just more progress.
"It was just, kind of, running smarter and executing my race better," Whitney said.
She points to her start in the 200 for bringing down her time so significantly.
"I never got out so fast in my life. I ran the curve so well," Whitney said.
On the starting line, Whitney said, she was determined to sprint as fast as she could for as far as she could.
Count Washington, a graduating senior from Long Beach Poly, among those most impressed.
"She's phenomenal, so out of this world," Washington said of Whitney. "She was born with this talent, and a lot of us are, but she's extraordinary. She can do amazing things and could be one of the greatest to (come through) track and field, ever."
Whitney is flattered by the glowing endorsements she's received over the past week but she's not ready to take her focus off her next goal: Doing it all again in Eugene and winning gold medals at World Juniors.
Whitney may be young, but she's not a newcomer. She may have only turned 16 this spring, but she has met some of her idols – Allyson Felix, Sanya Richards Ross, Francena McCorory and Veronica Campbell-Brown. In 2013, Whitney went to Des Moines, Iowa for the U.S. national championships just to watch, and learn.
This spring, Whitney shared a bus ride through Harlem with McCorory as they traveled between their Manhattan hotel and Icahn Stadium on Randall's Island for the adidas Grand Prix.
If anything, the performance at U.S. Juniors, and the arrival of Team USA apparel, only confirms Whitney's journey.
"It definitely opened my eyes a lot more," she said. "This is my calling. I have always taken it seriously. Now I have confidence in myself."
