Steinbrenner’s Alexis Wright out for more gold
By Kyle LoJacono
When the sun went down on April 30, 2011, Steinbrenner’s Alexis Wright would forever be known as a state champion.
Wright bested all competitors in the Class 2A 100-meter hurdles, finishing in 15.05 seconds. It was her first of three finals that day. Her memory of that first-place performance is very clear, but Wright remembers more about coming up just short in the triple jump.
“I was second by only a quarter of an inch, which could have been anything,” said Wright, who jumped 36-feet 11.75-inches. She then added, “I was just coming back from the hurdles after winning and watched as she took her last jump. When I heard what it was I was just like you’ve got to be kidding me.”
Wright, then a junior, claimed her third medal of the day by finishing third in the 300 hurdles (45.32). She also won regional and district titles in all three.
Entering her senior season this year Wright put a lot of pressure on herself to show everyone that 2011 wasn’t a fluke.
“There’s a reputation I feel I have, and I don’t want to lose that reputation,” Wright said. “At the same time I want to go out with a bang.”
Wright showed she is still a legit state title contender, now in 3A, by winning Western Conference championships in both hurdles and the triple. She set personal records in the 300 (44.89) and triple (39-03.50). Her best time this season in the 100 is 15.01, better than when she won states.
“I do feel stronger now than last year at this time,” Wright said. “I didn’t think I’d be running my state times already.”
Her times are better, and if she reaches states in her three events she will have two previous years of experience to lean on.
The hurdles and triple all take place at about 3 p.m. at states, so Wright has to go between the track and jumping area between prelim heats and finals.
The back-and-forth trips threw her off as a sophomore to the point that she finished ninth in both hurdles prelims, one away from qualifying for the finals, and placed eighth overall in the triple.
Wright and Steinbrenner girls track coach Ladd Baldwin started simulating the timing of the prelims and finals for her three events at practice. She credits that preparation to helping her claim three medals last year.
“At the end of states my sophomore year I just dropped down and cried, but later I realized what I was capable of,” Wright said. “I was amongst the best of the best and I’m only a sophomore. It caused me to work my butt off, and I went out there and got it the next year.”
The ascent as a hurdler didn’t begin until Wright came to Steinbrenner as a sophomore.
She began doing track in sixth grade while at Ben Hill Middle, running mostly the 400 and 200 along with the long jump. Wright continued the 400 at Gaither.
“I came over here and met Bob Ennis, who is my hurdles coach, and he just asked me to try it one day,” Wright said. “I remember doing it in the grass and asking coach ‘Am I doing this right? This feels awful.’ He said ‘Just keep doing what you’re doing.’ He had a good way of hiding his feelings because he was calm, but inside he said he was bouncing with joy.”
Baldwin has coached four individual state champions but said Wright is the one who most loves the mechanics of running.
“She loves the technique part of it,” Baldwin said. “She’s like a perfectionist.”
That ability to find small imperfections allows Wright to be like another coach for her hurdles and triple jump teammates.
“She’s my inspiration for triple,” said junior Jessica Brewer. “I always ask her for help because she’s a really good mentor.”
Wright brings that same competitive nature into the classroom. She has a 6.14 weighted grade point average, good enough for 12th best in her graduating class of 438 students, and only one B on her transcript. She is taking four AP and two honors classes along with one elective this semester.
“I was brought up with the mentality of find a way to do it if you’re capable of doing it,” Wright said. “I leaned on my sisters at first, and they helped build me up to the student I am today. By the time I was in fifth grade homework was on my own. Now I don’t expect anything less.”
Wright’s grades helped earned her the Ronald A. Hammond Scholarship from the University of Miami, which pays 100 percent tuition. She plans to start as a premed student, but may major in psychology, biomedical engineering or exercise science.
“I want to run in college even if it’s just an accessory,” Wright said. “It’s become a lifestyle now, not just something I do. I love it way too much not to do it at all.”
Baldwin said Wright’s ability to succeed on the track and in the classroom make her the perfect role model.
“She shows people if you work hard you can be successful,” Baldwin said. “They can see that in her every day at practice. I think that’s the positive with her. The freshmen look at her and know she wasn’t a state champion four years ago. It’s that person they can look up to and see how to act.”
Wright’s path toward another state title begins at the 3A-8 meet at Gaither on April 19 starting at noon.
–All postseason performances as recorded by the Florida High School Athletic Association.
