Fifteen local track and field athletes from around the Tuscaloosa area are set to compete in the 2024 USATF National Junior Olympic Track and Field Championship, July 22-28 in College Station, Texas.
The athletes, whose range from 11 to 16 years old, compete for their local high schools and middle schools but run summer track at T-Town Speed, a youth club serving Tuscaloosa County and surrounding areas.
T-Town Speed was created by Kirby Walker and her husband, Brandon, in 2021. Kirby is a former Daphne High track and field star who competed at Ole Miss, while Brandon played both football and baseball collegiately. Kirby currently teaches and coaches at Thompson while Brandon, a Hillcrest alum, teaches and coaches football at his alma mater.
"These are the best athletes in the country (competing at nationals)," Walker told The Tuscaloosa News. " ... I know whenever I was competing it was massive. The quality of the athletes, you are competing against future Olympians all over the place."
Out of the 15 competitors, eight are from Tuscaloosa-area high schools: Holy Spirit, Northridge, Paul Bryant and Hale County. Northridge's Justin Wilkins has run at T-Town Speed since its founding and was the organization's first All-American in 2022. During the 2024 AHSAA seasons, Wilkins was a part of the Northridge boys squad that brought home indoor and outdoor 6A titles.
It will be Wilkins' third nationals after traveling to Sacramento, California, in 2022 and Eugene, Oregon, in 2023.
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"It's really fun because you get to travel and spend time with friends," Wilkins said. "... You are going against the best people in the nation. You have to go against the best, but you also want to perform the best out of everybody."
Hale County's JaQuan Sterling competed in both sprint events at the state meet in May, finishing 12th in the 4A boys 100-meter dash (11.26) and 14th in the 200 (22.92). Paul Bryant's Ava Jones will also be competing, after finishing in seventh place in the 6A girls triple jump (33-07.00) and 14th in the long jump (14-11.75) at the 2024 state meet.
Holy Spirit's Chloe Moore and Mallory Masterson also qualified. Moore finished fourth in the 2A girls 800-meter run (2:31.41).
Here are the 15 athletes from the Tuscaloosa area that will be competing at the 2024 USA National Junior Olympic Track and Field Championships:
- Jaeen Benion, 4x100 relay, Hillcrest High School
- Nasir Collins, 4x100 relay, Englewood Elementary School
- Trey Cousette, 4x100 relay, North River Christian Academy
- Corey Edison-Gay, High Jump, Hillcrest Middle School
- Keaton Gore, 4x100 relay, Hillcrest Middle School
- Daniel Lowery, Mini Javelin, Englewood Elementary School
- Martez Phillips, 4x100 relay, Paul Bryant High School
- John Russell Primm, 4x100 relay, Duncanville Middle School
- JaQuan Sterling, 200-meter dash, 4x100 relay, Hale County High School
- Justin Wilkins, 100-meter dash, 4x100 relay, Northridge High School
- Trinity Adams-Miles, Shot Put, North River Christian Academy
- Ava Jones, Long Jump, Triple Jump, Paul Bryant High School
- Mallory Masterson, 3000-meter run, Holy Spirit Catholic School
- Chloe Moore, 800-meter run, Holy Spirit Catholic School
- Alana Vaughans, 100-meter dash, TASPA
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