Daniels, Sparling, Spaulding Take Part In Nike Elite Sprint Camp



Three of Florida's top sprinters Teahna Daniels, Krystal Sparling, and Diamond Spaulding were recently invited to attend the Nike Elite Sprint Camp at Nike Headquarters in Portland, Oregon. The camp which is in it's first year, and runs in conjunction with the distance elite camp, consisted of fifteen of the fastest high schoolers in the country. The camp not only gave the athletes the opportunity to hone their craft, but also get advice from some of the top coaches and professional athletes in our sport. When they weren't on the track, they were competing in challenges, sightseeing, and getting to know their idols on a more personal level. Daniels calls the experience life changing.

"Meeting pro athletes like Dawn Harper and David Oliver was incredible. I didn't know what to expect going there so I was surprised about what we all did. We trained with Jeneba Tarmoh and Allyson. Also, we trained with Ryan Bailey and English Gardner. All of them were so willing to give their pointers on our races and I learned so much about what I could do in my race, at practice, in the weight room, and with my diet. We also went zip lining and hiking. I developed some great relationships with the other elite athletes. It was an experience I could never forget."

Right away the athletes were put to the test. Spaulding says the first order of business were 6x40's to test their reaction time. After that it was time for fun.

"We had dinner with Shelly-Ann Frayser-Prise and David Oliver. The 2nd day we went hiking for a mile to a waterfall then met and trained with Bob Kersee, Allyson Felix, Jeneba Tarmoh, Kori Carter, and Dawn Harper-Nelson. We learned how to better our starts. For dinner they took us to a place where we had a cooking challenge boys vs. girls. Dawn and her husband were on the girls side and David oliver was on the boys side. We cooked stuffed pork, squash soup, potatos, and a peach dessert. Girls won!"

The third day took the athletes to the Michael Johnson Track where they trained with John Smith, English Gardner, and Ryan Bailey. Next up Spaulding says was an information session.

"We had strength coaches talk to us about conditioning and working out in the weight room. Then we did a mini workout with them. For dinner we went to a brazilian resturant and English, Ryan, David, Dawn, Alonzo (Dawn's husband),  and John were with us. The last day we raced and my team won again. Then we had lunch with Ryan. After we talked with Dawn and Alonzo about injury prevention. In the afternoon, we went to a zipline place where not only were we ziplining which is the easy part, we had to keep our balance to get to the next zipline which was the hard part! After that we ate at the zipline place then went to the hotel for movie night and watched Despicable Me 2."

So what was her favorite part of the weekend?  Spaulding says it was the fun extra-curriculars.

"My favorite part of the weekend was the cooking challenge and the ziplining. Track wise, the best workout were the 40's which where the testing. The neatest person I met was Dawn Harper. She was so funny. Overall the experience was amazing and we learned more about the difference in high school, college and pro track. We asked the coaches and athletes a lot of questions and learned a lot.

Daniels was the 1A state champion in both the 100 and 200, Golden South champion, Adidas Dream 100 runner-up, and was third at the USATF Junior National Championships earning her a spot on Team USA's 4x100m relay team where they brought home gold at the IAAF World Championships.

Sparling and Spaulding provided one of the best 1-2 sprint punches in the country for powerhouse St. Thomas Aquinas. Sparling was second in the 100 at the 4A state meet behind Kaylin Whitney (who did not attend), 4th at the Adidas Dream 100, and 2nd in the 100 at the Brooks PR Invitational. Spaulding, more of a 200m runner, was second at the 4A state meet,  1st at the Great Southwest Classic, and runner-up at New Balance Outdoor Nationals. Sparling and Spaulding were key members of the Raider's nationally ranked 4x100 and 4x200m relay teams as well.

All three girls will take this valuable experience into their senior years as some of the top sprinters in the country!