Conner after winning the 800 at Starrs Mill Friday Night Lights
Kenyah Conner is a sophomore at Woodward Academy. But she's been running track since she was in 5th grade. And she's been running fast for every one of those seasons. What makes Kenyah so special is that she is a versatile athlete that can help her team out on any of the relays and she's also the top ranked 800m runner in class 5A making her the favorite to win that event at state. So the only problem Woodward has is deciding what four events she should run at state. Because she could come away with 4 wins and a 40 very valuable points for a team that is in a position to win.
Conner started in elementary school and ran a 2:26 in her first 800. She eventually brought that time down to 2:19 and also ended up running a 61 in the 400 and 4:57 in the 1500, which roughly converts to a 5:18 1600. Those are some very impressive times for a 5th grader and showed that she had the talent to pursue sprints, mid distance, or even long distance. She seems to be setting her focus on mid distance and the 800 as her main event, but she runs a little bit of everything.
In 6th grade she also ran 2:19 and got her 400 time down to 60. In 7th grade she started running indoors in what appears to be an attempt to work on her speed as she ran 8.55 in the 60 and 28.46 in the 200 to go along with her 60 in the 400. This translated really well to outdoors as she was able to bring her 800 time down to 2:14, taking runner up at outdoor nationals. She also won middle school state in the 800 and 1600 running times of 2:22 and 5:28. And finally she got her 400 time down to 57.58. Her 8th grade season was shortened by Covid just like everybody else, but she still was able to run 2:23 and 59.55 eventually and also ran the 100 and 200 improving her PR's to 13.00 and 26.34.
Then she started high school and immediately became a force on the GHSA scene. She started with cross country and got her PR down to 19:55 and placed 20th at the state meet in 20:46, a pretty solid performance on the hills of Carrollton. But the track season is where she really came alive. She placed first or 2nd place in every single 800 she ran all season last year. She took runner up at the 2021 state Championships in the 800 where she ran 2:14 and then eventually continued her season all the way through the end of the summer where she took runner up at USATF Junior Olympics in a PR of 2:11.69. She also ran PR's in the 200 and 400 with times of 25.91 and 56.45.
A now she's a sophomore and will look to provide some big time performances for her team in their pursuit to defend their title this May. She had a short indoor season that saw her put up respectable times of 26.11/58.13/2:17. And she's continuing to run well outdoors with times of 2:14 and 2:19 to win both of her 800's this year. She has also run a few 400's getting her season PR down to 56.94. She looks capable of challenging for the win in the 400 as well as she ranks 4th in class 5A in that event. But what's really going to be interesting is to see which relays she runs for her team this year. She's certainly capable of being on the 4x200, 4x400, and 4x800 relay teams, but then she'd only be able to run one individual event. She could even possibly run on the 4x100m relay as well, where Woodward ranks 2nd in class 5A. But wood ward also ranks 2nd in the 4x200, ranks 1st in the 4x400, and ranks 18th in the 4x800 - an event where they may not have run their true A squad yet. It will be very interesting to see what her coaches decide to do with her. It's probably safe to assume that state isn't the final meet of her season. Last year she ran her best race at the very end, so she's certainly got the endurance to do a full outdoor season ending at nationals. It will be very fun to follow her season this year.
