We chatted with Niceville junior Skye Tolbert after clocking the nation's fastest wind-legal time in the 100 meter hurdles on Friday evening at Flagler Palm Coast High School for the East Classic with a 13.75 clocking.
A former level 10 gymnast that switched to track being her focus entering high school, Tolbert certainly has translated that sports background to thrive in two of the most technical events on the track & field in the hurdles and the pole vault.
Tolbert opened her season with a big PR time drop of 14.09 at the Seahawks Open. The next meet and thought was to look towards sub 14 seconds next, but the 13.75 was an even more shocking performance after running a 14.20 best last year as a junior.
In the same meet on Friday, Tolbert also won the pole vault competition with a season best clearance of 3.5 meters. Not always a given for her to win the pole vault as her teammate Lilly Chouinard is also one of Florida's best and last year's 4A state runner-up in the event. Since they both compete in the same events in the vault and hurdles, Tolbert certainly has a great training partner to push her on a weekly basis.
The Niceville team is one of top programs right now in the state, but they are isolated from many of the other top programs in the state. With covid travel restrictions eased up from a year ago, the Niceville squad has jumped on the opportunity to take their talents down the road including this past weekend at Flagler Palm Coast High School for the East Coast Classic and upcoming weekend taking a longer bus trip to South Florida for the Elite 16 Invitational.
