Two US#1's For Whitney Including #7 All-Time All Conditions 22.80, WL 10.86 For Olympian VCB


(Whitney and Campbell-Brown pose for a picture after the meet.)

She's only a sophomore, but Saturday afternoon Kaylin Whitney proved she has the potential to be a future professional and Olympian. The four-time state champion kicked off her postseason swing at the Star Athletics Sprint Series in Clermont put on by her coaches Dennis Mitchell and Damu Cherry Mitchell and all she did was put on a show posting the fastest times in the country this year in both the 100 and 200 against a field of professional women. Her blazing 22.80 in the 200 is the seventh fastest ever by a high schooler (all-conditions.)

Running in heat one of the prelims, Whitney's opponents included the likes of Sholonda Solomon and seven-time Olympic medalist Veronica-Campbell Brown of Jamaica who trains in Clermont. Whitney, a two-time Dream 100 finalist and late entry to the Brooks PR Invitational in Seattle, clocked a new personal best and  US#1 time of 11.30 in the prelims where she finished fourth. Campbell-Brown's 10.86 in that first heat is the current world leader. She DNF'ed for the finals to prepare for the 200 while the youngster finished third with a mark of 11.38.

Campbell Brown might have been glad she had that break in between races. Whitney was on the heels of Campbell-Brown for most of the 200 meters, but the Jamaican was able to pull away in the final meters with a time of 22.30. If you're going to finish second, not a bad person to do it behind. Whitney's time of 22.80w (2.1 m/s)  is a US#1 mark by over four tenths of a second,  huge leap over her previous best of 23.45w, and the seventh fastest (all-conditions) in high school history.

According to Jack Shepard of Track and Field News the following times (including all-conditions) are faster than Whitney's 22.80w:

  • 22.11 by 2012 Olympic gold medalist Allyson Felix
  • 22.58 by former world champion Marion Jones
  • 22.64 by Florida record holder and Olympian Chandra Cheeseborough
  • 22.70w by  Kinshasa Davis (Wilson, Long Beach, Ca)
  • 22.74w by Chalonda Goodman (Newnan, Ga)
  • 22.75w by Wenda Vereen (Trenton Central, Trenton, NJ)

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