Robin Reynolds continues quest for Florida track and field history

Versatile Jackson (Miami) track star Robin Reynolds has a chance to become the biggest gold medal winner in Florida history over the next two years.

The 5-foot-4 junior dynamo shocked the state by winning four golds and leading her team to the Class 3A title as a mere freshman. Though plagued by injuries as a sophomore, she won three more.

The state record is 13 by Julian Reynolds of Benjamin (North Palm Beach, Fla.) from 1990-95. She had the advantage of winning three as either a seventh or eighth grader. She won the 800 six times, the 1,600 five times and the 400 and 100 once. Three individuals share the boys' record with nine golds.

Robin Reynolds' running career began in a rather unusual – and somewhat humorous – situation.



She told MaxPreps that when she was 7 years old, "I used to go to the park with my dad (Carl Cunningham). He was a football coach (of the Northwest Boys Club Pop Warner team). He used to make the boys do suicides for punishment. I used to beat them. They used to get mad at the coaches, because if I beat them, they had to run again."

Cunningham added, "She thought it was all fun and games. We all were surprised. Originally, we thought she was beating them because they were tired. So we started running them at the beginning of practice and she kept on beating them."

Her parents decided to enroll her in a local track program at age 8 and she was an instant hit.

"I taught her a lot of technique," said Cunningham, who is an assistant boys track coach at Jackson – his alma mater – as well as the school's curriculum intervention specialist. "She has the get-up-and-go spirit where she doesn't ever want to lose."

At age 8, Reynolds was running the 800 and 1,500 in the 9-10 age group. At age 10 she won the 200 in a national-record 26.5 seconds during the Junior Olympics in Eugene, Ore.

"It felt great," she said of her national record. "I was on top of the world. I was a little kid with a lot of ambition. I was practicing hard, real happy and blessed."



As a freshman and sophomore she attended Turner Tech, a magnet school which did not have a sports program. She was able to run for a school of her choice, which was going to be Jackson because her father threw the shot put and discus for the Generals. At Jackson she came under the tutelage of Donnell Jackson, who said he first saw her as a sixth grader.

"She was a scrawny little thing," he described. "I couldn't believe she was capable of doing the things she was doing. Her body finally (now) is catching up with her talent."

She went undefeated during a phenomenal freshman year. During the Class 3A state meet, she won the 100 in 11.56, the 200 in 23.67, the 400 in 54.95 and the long jump with a leap of 19 feet, 4¾ inches. She scored 40 of the Generals' 60 points as they claimed their first state title since 1980.

Reynolds was only the fifth girl – and second freshman – to win four golds in the history of Florida's state meet.
Practically everyone in the state was stunned, except Reynolds.

She said, "I did (expect to win four golds). I always went to the state track meet. I always had a vision and dream that I wanted to win a state championship. It wasn't going to be easy, but I drove for it. None of the races were close. It was flat-out convincing."

Jackson described Reynolds' sophomore year as "kind of plagued by injuries. At the state meet she was kind of held together by rubber bands. She had a blister on her foot and was dehydrated. She was cramping when she was in the blocks (for the 200)."



Her sophomore year actually had started with a twisted ankle. Still, she won three more state titles: the 100 in 11.79, the 400 in 54.02 and the long jump at 18-10½.

"I was ready for the challenge, but my body just wouldn't go," she said of her eighth-place finish in the 200.

Last summer she estimated that her body was about 95 percent healthy.

Continue reading{PAGEBREAK}Even though not at 100 percent, she starred at the World Youth Olympic Games in Singapore by winning the 400 in 52.57 - which led the USA preps last year - and anchoring the victorious 400-meter relay. She was 16 at the time and was competing against athletes up to 19 years of age.

"It felt awesome. Still, even now I'm speechless," she said of her first international competition. "Running on a level like that against people from all over the world, not knowing who my competition is. I know that one day going pro and to the Olympics is possible and not just a pipe dream. It was like a wakeup call saying, ‘Yeah, I can do this.' It can be my future."

Reynolds is a young lady who never wants to admit defeat, but she did concede she lost twice while in Singapore. The first loss came in collecting souvenir buttons from other countries. She brought home close to 30, but two other girls topped her.



Then, there were those 12 flights of stairs and a long walk to eat at the cafeteria every day. She admitted to not even trying to win those races to the chow line.

Track isn't the only sport in which Reynolds has made an impact. She was Jackson's leading basketball scorer this year with a 17-point average and a high game of 32 points. She also averaged eight rebounds, eight assists and six steals.

She has run cross country for conditioning, played some volleyball and been the No. 1 singles player in tennis when needed. Tennis conflicts with track, so she has just played in the bigger matches.

In the classroom she carries a 3.4 GPA, with English being her favorite subject. Some day she would like to be a corporate lawyer.

Coach Jackson thinks it's a forgone conclusion that she will attend the University of Florida, because her father and mother (Robbie, a probation officer) both are Florida graduates. Reynolds conceded, "Being in a Gator household, I have become very fond of the Gators. I have my eye on Florida. But they (her parents) are going to be behind me whatever I do 100 percent."

She then mentioned checking out LSU, UCLA and the University of Texas. She likes Texas because one of her idols, Olympian Sanya Richards, starred there.



Another idol is her older brother, Bershawn Jackson, who placed third in the 400 hurdles during the 2008 Olympics and now runs in the professional ranks.

Though she hopes to make the USA World Team again this summer, her immediate goal is to collect four more gold medals at the state meet and become the all-time leader. Her father said, "Her knees are bothering her a little bit. A lot of people are trying to have me cut some of her events out. Why? She's been doing this (four events) all of her life. She even wants to try the triple jump and high jump. She's got that strength from running the 1,500 as a child."

Coach Jackson sees Reynolds repeating the feats of her freshman year.

He predicted, "She can put that record at an untouchable point (by the time she graduates), because it will be a long time before anyone like her – boy or girl – comes through the state of Florida. She has the heart of a lion."

Reynolds has similar thoughts.

"I'm shooting for any record that's breakable and in my reach."