Road to national track meets
started early for two

Kyra Sullivan and Tylor Brock are going to national track and field championships again this year. Both of them have been doing that since they were eight.

Fifteen-year-old Kyra of University City will be in the nationals for the seventh time. Eleven-year-old Tylor of O'Fallon, Mo., is going for the fourth time.

Both feel they have good chances in the national meets.

Kyra qualified for the AAU nationals by winning two individual and two relay races in regionals in Columbia, Mo. She set a new regional record with her 200-meter win. The other victories were in 100 meters and in the 4x100 and 4x400 relays.

The AAU nationals started Aug. 1 in Knoxville, Tenn. Two girls who beat Kyra in last year's meet won't be in her age group this year. "I should have a good chance unless someone new comes up," she said.

Tylor set a new national record when he won the Columbia regional title in the high jump. He jumped 5'2", which matches his height. He also set regional records in wins in the pentathlon and the 400 and 800 meter races.

The pentathlon includes five different events. In the regional finals, Tylor won by placing first in three events (80-meter hurdles, high jump and 1500 meters) and third in the other two (shot put and long jump).

Tylor said he entered the pentathlon because "I do okay in a lot of different events."

In the AAU nationals, Kyra will be running in the 100, 200, 4x100 and 4x400 events. Her relay partners are Lauren Fisher, Whitney Thomas and Melissa Ennis.

The girls belong to the Royal Knights track club which practices four evenings a week.

Kyra is also going to compete in the USA Track and Field nationals in Omaha, Neb., later.

Tyler Brock

Tylor will compete in the AAU nationals in the pentathlon, open high jump and 400 and 800 meters. He also qualified in pentathlon for the USATF nationals. But, he isn't going to compete because his parents thought it involved too much travel.

Kyra is in the 15-16 age group while Tylor competes in the 11-year-old classification.

The two local athletes not only got started in track competition at the same age but also share pretty hard practice schedules.

Kyra's track club practices Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, usually from 6 to 8 p.m. There's a lot more to those practices than sprinting. For instance, she said the kids "do the hills" 10 times. That involves running up a sharp incline to develop leg strength.

"We have to make a certain time. But, for me, the 10th time seems to go easier," she said. They also have a sled-pulling exercise and then use a medicine ball to develop arm strength. Upper body strength is a factor in running speed.

Kyra said she seems to get better as the meets progress. "I keep improving my times as we go from preliminaries to finals," she said.

For Tylor, the practices include more variety because he competes in both running and field events. "We do something just about every day of the week," he said.

His practices are usually at McCluer or Fort Zumwalt North high schools. In addition to practices with his Express track club, he works on jumping with long-time track coach Vincent Bingham.

He does sprints and works out of starting blocks to develop speed and runs a series of 5- to 6-minute miles for endurance. Then, he does special "box work" on the high jump to get his take-off timing right.

Tylor uses the "Fosbury Flop" technique. That's where the jumper goes over the bar backwards and lands on his back. That technique only became popular after foam pads were developed to replace the old sand landing pits.

He's added training for hurdles and shot put. They are new events for him this year.

Both athletes are hoping to qualify for athletic scholarships for college.

Kyra said college track coaches come to the nationals to scout. But, she added, "They can't talk to me until I'm a junior in high school."

If you'd like to learn more about track and field, here are a some website addresses. For the AAU, go to aausports.org or local information at www.myteam.com/go/ozaau. For USATF, go to usatf.org or for local news, usatf.org/assoc/mv.