Frederick winning the 100m dash at the Atlanta Games Invitational
Sanaa Frederick is undefeated this season. Ok. The Druid Hills sophomore is not quite undefeated this season if you count the indoor season. But considering her only loss was on December 31st of 2021 then I'm going to count her as being undefeated. And that's pretty impressive for a sophomore.
Frederick is one of the top returning sprinters in the state, which is no easy feat to accomplish as a freshman. But it hasn't been smooth sailing for her. After prelims at the state meet last year she looked poised for greatness as just a freshman. She was the top seed heading into the finals in both of her events - the 100m and the 200m dash. However, she was beaten in both finals. In the 100m she placed a still very solid 3rd in a time of 12.19, only 0.07 seconds behind the winner. And in the 200m she ran a 25.09 to lose by just 0.09 seconds. So a total of less than a quarter of a second separated her from true greatness as a freshman. And so she was left to get back to work and forced to wait another year before she takes a crack at those events again.
And it's obvious she's gone back to work. She ran one indoor meet where she ran the 7th fastest time in the state in the 200m and the 13th fastest time for a Georgia girl in the 60m dash. But she seemed content to turn her focus to the outdoor season, and since then all she's done is win. She opened her season at the New Manchester Time Trials where she clocked some quick times for a sprinter in February. She won both the 400m in 57.43 and the 200m in 24.69. She followed that up a few days later by winning another 200 and then a 400 at weekday meets. And then on Saturday she ran her debut in the 100 and it did not disappoint. The winning time of 12.09 is the 9th fastest in the state so far this year, and it was also good enough to get her a win against some of the best sprinters in Georgia as the Atlanta Games typically draws some top level sprinters.
There's no telling where she will go from here, but the question remains: Can she stay undefeated this year?
