Cover Photo Credit: Shelton Jolivette/MileSplit and Chance Kirby/MileSplit
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Both Kody Blackwood and Grant Williams graduated from high school last month, but each one of them still has one track and field meet remaining in their prep career before heading off to college to compete on the NCAA level.
The two Texas natives will travel to Cali, Colombia to compete for Team USA as they qualified against the best high school seniors as well as college freshmen and sophomores who were 20 years old and under.
The U20 World Championships is where the best athletes in the world compete in their respective sports against other countries. It is extremely difficult to make the team no matter what sport an athlete is in or what country they are from.
In the United States, that difficulty is increased even more so when you consider population and popularity of the sport. Couple that with high school kids going against collegians who are more physically and psychologically mature, have improved weight training, individualized event specific training, as well as event specific coaching.
That makes the chances of making the team even more difficult and in the 400 meter hurdles an event that Texas high school athlete don't often compete in, it's even more of a long shot.
Despite all of the odds, the two representatives for the United States at the 2022 Track and Field U20 World Championship in the 400 meter hurdles are both 2022 high school graduates.
Furthermore, they are both from Texas, both are 2022 UIL 300 meter hurdle champions, and are both from the North Dallas area. There are a lot more similarities between the two. However, what makes it all even more odds defying is that the similarities are also familiarities.
Grant Williams (L) and Kody Blackwood (R) both compete at the 2022 UIL track and field championships
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McKinney North graduate Blackwood and Celina graduate Williams are friends and they are training partners. The two Team USA representatives who will travel to another continent to compete just so happen to live approximately only 15 miles away from one another.
Last year, both hurdlers were UIL state meet finalists where they were runners-up as juniors. However, Williams wasn't satisfied; he felt he could run faster and be even better. So, he text messaged Blackwood and asked if he knew of a good coach.
They have both been training with hurdle guru and coach Sammy Dabbs, who trains high school, collegiate, and post-collegiate athletes; their work with Coach Dabbs has been supplemental to their high school coaching. They both improved their runner-up finishes last year to championship titles back in May at the 300 meter hurdles and when their high school careers completed, the hurdlers and their coach turned their eyes towards making the national team.
What is a tough task in the 400 meter hurdles (arguably the toughest event on the track) for any high schooler to do became a reality for the two training partners and friends when they both qualified last month at the USA U20 trials in Eugene, Oregon.
Later this month, before Blackwood heads off to the University of Texas and Williams to the University of Arkansas where they'll attend college, they'll compete together and represent the state they live in and the country they were born in.
They have only a couple more weeks remaining of riding to practice together as they currently alternate days driving through Dallas. Soon, they'll be flying to another continent together with USA on their chests.
And to think, it'll all started with a simple text.