Freshman year is a stressful time for any teenager. You find yourself in a new school making new friends, dealing with new pressures, and starting to take responsibility for yourself. For Miami Jackson freshman Robin Reynolds multiply those pressures with the weight of a thousand expectations on your shoulders.
Leading up to track season, Reynolds was almost certainly the most hyped and anticipated incoming freshman sprinter ever in Florida. Her exploits in youth track & field meets and at last year's middle school state championship are legendary. She is expected to be the next in a long line of great Florida sprinters from Miami including Ericka Whipple and Sanya Richards earlier in the decade. Many already seem certain that she is a future Olympian.
This season she has done nothing but live up to those expectations, posting national-level times in the 100, 200, and 400. And going into tonight's 3A State Meet she was qualified in four events. Four events that, despite some really tough competition, most people figured she would sweep. That's a huge feat of any athlete, let alone a freshman in the deep 3A classification!
Her team was depending on her too. The Miami Jackson girls were given an outside shot to defeat favored Pine Forest for the team championship. However, to have any shot at doing so they were going to need every ounce of Robin's victories and they wouldn't be able to lean on her for any relay teams—her event limit was already tapped out!
So with all of this burden bearing down on her young mind, she headed to Showalter Field on Friday. And none of it seemed effect her in the least. Reynolds confessed though, she was quite nervous.
“I try not to show any weakness,” Reynolds explained, “but I was pretty nervous!”
Her first test of the day was the long jump at high noon in the 93 degree Florida heat. She quickly was given reason to relax by landing a 19-4.75 opening jump, a new personal best. “That definitely put my mind at ease quite a bit after that. It helped to shake off the nerves,” she said.
That jump was all she needed to win her first state championship. So what is a girl to do with one state title in the bag and three more to collect? A nice power nap, of course! “Between events I like to lay down and go to sleep,” the honor student said smiling. “It helps me to rejuvenate and recharge for the next event. It calms me down and helps me focus.”
She couldn't rest too long because she had to first get through the preliminary rounds later that afternoon in order to qualify for the finals in her three running events (100, 200, 400) that started at 7PM. The prelims of course proved no problem for her. So she was able to return to a peaceful slumber.
The gun goes off in the 100 meter dash. The weaker of her three running events (if there is such a thing) she doesn't get out of the blocks in first, but by 50 meters the race is hers. She cruises home to a 11.56 finals win. Her closest rival, Tatianna Fisher, is .24 second back and fellow freshman Kyri Tabor is .39 off of Reynold's winning pace. That's two.
She's got just two events before her next test, the 400 meters. Thank goodness for the 1600, that gives her just enough time.... zzzzzzzzz.
It's time to go. She lines up, shakes out her legs, stretches, and sets her blocks. The 400 meter dash goes off. This race is arguably her specialty, if you can really nail this girl down to just one event. If the FHSAA were to allow her to run in more she might just win the 800 as well. Last year at the middle school state championship she did just that, sweeping the 100, 200, 400, and 800. Setting the middle school state meet record in three out of the four along the way. How is it that a sprinter can have such range? That's just not normal.Obviously, Reynolds is anything but your normal athlete. For being so young she is an incredible veteran of many years of dominating performances in the national youth ranks. For several of those first years of competition, Reynolds was a distance runner. She attributes her great range in events to these early years of training for longer races.
At 200 meters, Reynolds looks like she might have her state title streak stop at two. Her form is impeccable and her determination is unquestioned; however, she finds herself still back around third place or so. But then like that the game changes. Reynolds flipped the switch and by the end of the final curve she has positioned herself clearly out front. Coming down the homestretch, she makes it look easy as she zooms to another victory—54.95. A pillar of consistency perhaps, that's ironically the exact time that qualified her in the pole position out of the prelims. That's three.
She is now three-fourths of the way to the incredible feat that to anyone's recollection no freshman has ever achieved before: 40 points at the state meet. Two more events to wait before her final test: the 200 meters. Thank goodness the 800 has two heats, just enough time.... zzzzzzzz.
Reynolds dreams about her future. She has big dreams. This summer she is hoping to compete in the USATF Junior Olympics in hopes of qualifying to represent Team USA at the IAAF World Youth Championships in Italy this July. Looming wide on the horizon though is an even bigger dream: the London Olympic Games of 2012. She will be just a high school senior that year. Wouldn't that be something? And while 2016 seems like a more realistic goal, anyone dare to tell this young lady she can't do something?
She's grounded though. Despite having all the athletic potential in the world, she is quick to point out that all of this track & field business might not work out for her. That's why she's focusing on her studies, keeping on the honor roll, and seems almost just as excited to talk about one day working in the criminal justice field.
No more time for dreams. The second call for the 200 meter dash sounds like an alarm clock. Time to do it once more. Shake out those nerves, loosen up those legs, stretch those arms. You've got one last checkbox to check to pull off this 40 point freshman miracle.
Tenacious senior Tatianna Fisher of Oak Ridge once again is her biggest rival in this race. The tall and experienced Fisher lines up in the next lane ready to put an end to Reynold's noble streak. Fisher has a PR of 24.12 in the 200. After so many races and jumps all day long, that might just be good enough to prevent Robin from sweeping all four events.
Not a chance. Robin streaks out of the blocks, asserting herself early and leaving absolutely no doubt on the homestretch. A new personal best of 23.67 for Reynolds gives her a generous sixth tenths of a second margin of victory over Fisher's 24.27. That's four.
Obviouslly helped along by Robin's contribution of forty points, her teammates ponied up another 20 points including second place to end the night in the 4x400. That sixty points gave Miami Jackson girls a 7.66 point margin of victory over favorite Pensacola Pine Forest. What a fine ending to the night for Reynolds: another championship.
The job is done. She achieved what she came here to accomplish. Four events, four wins. Three out of the four were new personal bests. Another championship to share with teammates. With thousands of eyes and many tons of weight all upon her, no one would have faulted a mere freshman from faltering, flinching, or even folding under the pressure. No way. Not Reynolds. That would just show weakness. And it's not yet apparent that she has one.
