Gayles chosen as top track and field athlete

When sisters Gaby and Daryth Gayles debuted with Holy Trinity track and field five years ago as seventh-graders, they probably would have been the last two people to predict where their path has led them.

In September, they will report to Stanford University, both to study and to compete as scholarship athletes. Both will carry with them multiple state medals and the memory of a couple of state team championships.

Gaby Gayles also will go as this year's FLORIDA TODAY Girls Track & Field Athlete of the Year.

Gaby's crowning achievement was winning her third 400 meter state championship in Class 1A during the last weekend of April, when she turned in a 54.60-second race. That was more than three seconds faster than the second-place finisher.

"I ran 54 without being pushed, and on a bad weather day," she remembered. "Combine that with the fact that we won state and that was a really great moment."

She was the runner-up in the 200 meters with a time of 24.50 seconds, and her best for the year was a 23.9. The sisters ran two legs for the Tigers team that won the 4x100 meter relay in 49.04 seconds.

The Gayles sisters started with soccer as first graders and continued with the sport through the ninth grade. That was two years after they had joined the Holy Trinity track and field team. Gaby made her mark quickly, placing sixth in the 400 meters in seventh grade with a 59.05.

"I always felt like Gaby was better than me at track," Daryth said. "(In grade school), even in the 100, she was faster than me."

Daryth became the long jumper and 100 meter specialist. Gaby focused on the quarter-mile and 200, but neither saw Stanford in their future. After her junior year, Gaby began to get calls from college coaches.

"Before that, I didn't really think I would be recruited," she said. "I think that's when I really realized that I was good."

Contact McCallum at 321-242-3698 and bmccallum@floridatoday.com.