Former Campbell standout Mekenze Kelley, second from right, poses with her relay teammates after winning gold at the U20 world championships in Colombia.
Former Campbell standout Mekenze Kelley, second from right, poses with her relay teammates after winning gold at the U20 world championships in Colombia.
Former Campbell High School track and field standout Mekenze Kelley made history of her own Saturday night.
The sprinter won gold and as part of the U.S. women’s 4x400-meter relay team at the World Athletics U20 Championships in Cali, Colombia.
Running the first leg of the race, Kelley was followed by relay teammates Shawnti Jackson, Akala Garrett and Roisin Willis in recording a winning time of 3 minutes, 28.06 seconds. Kelley is entering her sophomore season at Coastal Carolina, while Jackson, Garrett and Willis are high school standouts.
Their time was more than 3 seconds ahead of the next two teams, Jamaica (3:31.59) and Great Britain (3:31.86).
Kelley was also the lead runner in the opening round Friday, when they ran the fastest time (3:29.94) of the preliminaries.
Earlier in the week, Kelley turned in a time of 53.09 in the semifinals of the 400 run and finished ninth overall for the event.
Kelley made the most of her first season as a member of the Coastal Carolina track team. Kelley won the Sun Belt Conference’s outdoor championship in the 400 (51.98), which was a personal best and facility, meet and school record.
Kelley also posted a runner-up finish in the 200 with a time of 22.78, which was the second-fastest time in Coastal Carolina history and earned first-team all-conference honors.
Kelley was an all-conference second-team selection for the indoor season. She had a second place finish in the 400 with a time of 54.66.
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