Chicago Public Schools is noted for producing standout athletes in basketball, football and even baseball, but track and field has been a bit under the radar in recent years. This might change as athletes like Lindblom Math and Science Academy sophomore S
Chicago Public Schools is noted for producing standout athletes in basketball, football and even baseball, but track and field has been a bit under the radar in recent years. This might change as athletes like Lindblom Math and Science Academy sophomore Shamier Little begins to receive notoriety for their high-level performances in the sport.
Little won the 100-meter hurdles at the CPS championships, setting a meet record of 14.28, and also placed first in the 200. Her success on the track continued at the IHSA state meet where she set two state records, running 14.16 in the 100-meter hurdles and 54.85 in the 400-meter dash (tying with Whitney Young senior Raena Rhone for the best in the state of Illinois.)
Those fast times have garnered Little state rankings of number one in both events, in addition to U.S. rankings of 35th in the 100-meter hurdles and 48th in the 400.
Running for Lindblom, which just reinstated it’s girls track team after several years on the wane, is somewhat of a challenge for Little, whose been running track since 2005, but head track coach Tasha McCray said Little is already where she needs to be physically to compete at a high level.
“She came to me with talent,” said McCray. “She has natural talent and she’s already in shape. I just have to help maintain it.”
Conditioning is the key to bringing out the best in a track athlete, and it’s that aspect that discourages many young athletes from getting involved in the sport and sticking with it. Running is hard work, and some athletes have the will to do it while others don’t.
“It’s mind over matter,” Little said. “When I feel tired coming in for the 400 my legs start burning but I know I can’t slow down, I’ve got to keep running.”
Little’s mother, Tiffany Mayfield-Brandon, was a track athlete herself, and said that talent alone is not enough to reach your potential in track & field.
“It takes a lot of work and many athletes depend on talent and are lax in practice, that won’t help you lower your times,” she said. “But it’s really more of a mental thing, and you have to have the mindset to put what your coach teaches you to use on the track.”
Mayfield-Brandon is highly active in her daughter’s track career. She helps schedule her meets and drives her to and from practice, but she said Little doesn’t need any real help when it comes to the actual running.
“With Shamier it’s within her, it’s God-given talent and she just knows how to run,” she said.
This summer Little will be running with the Illinois Gazelle track club and she’ll be competing on the AAU and USATF circuit. She’s headed for Myrtle Beach, South Carolina for the 2011 World Youth Track and Field Trials this weekend, and if she does well there she has an opportunity to be added to the IAAF World Youth Team.
This might be heady stuff for some young athletes, but Little has a level-headed approach to running on the national track circuit.
“You’re exposed to more competition, but it’s all the same for me,” she said. “I just go to practice, train, work out and hopefully my times get lower the longer I train and practice.”
However, it’s not just about athletic achievement on the track. Her mom is encouraging her to succeed academically as well, so she can have choices when it comes to college, and not necessarily be bound to athletics.
“With the high cost of college anything that can help supplement those high tuition fees whether it be academics or athletics is welcome,” Brandon-Mayfield said. “But it’s always good to get an academic scholarship overall, then the athletics can augment what you’ve already received.
Copyright 2011 Chicago Defender
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