Ryan Jennings was once an eighth grader wearing highlighter-yellow Nike spikes that were about two sizes too big because they were on loan from her male track coach.
The Timber Creek senior, who is committed to Arkansas, probably won’t be borrowing spikes anytime soon.
Jennings, who ran the fastest 100-meter dash (11.33 seconds) in New Jersey history as a junior, is now a Nike-sponsored athlete.
“It’s a dream come true,” Jennings said Tuesday in a telephone interview. “I just posted it this morning, and people are already at school asking me to get them some shirts. I don’t even have anything yet! … It definitely shows how hard work can pay off.”
The sneaker giant named Jennings to its NSAF Nike Nationals Development Program, which includes a spot on Nike’s national team, travel expenses to events, apparel, mentorship, and more.
» READ MORE: Timber Creek sprinter Ryan Jennings aims for even faster days ahead at Arkansas
“It feels great because I know she’s always wanted to be a part of the Nike Elite Program,” Jennings’ mother, Kelly Graham, said. “There’s a lot of things opening doors for her, so it’s been exciting.”
In September, however, it felt like an opportunity lost when Jennings’ track friends posted online about joining the Nike Elite Program, a yearlong program for 40 high school athletes each year that will “provide comprehensive support for the top United States high school track and field athletes.”
Jennings was happy for her friends and showed support, but she wasn’t sure why she was left out. She also questioned if she had done something wrong or if she hadn’t worked hard enough.
Divine intervention, she thought, might help. But she didn’t pray for God to shoehorn her into Nike’s line of sight.
“It’s just that my patience is really low,” she said. “And I asked God, ‘Hey, can you calm me down? Can you calm my heart? Can you hear what my heart wants and needs?’ Because sometimes I can’t put it into words.”
It turned out that Jennings’ performances had already landed on Nike’s radar. As a member of the brand’s national team, Jennings can compete in Nike Indoor Nationals, Nike Outdoor Nationals, National Scholastic Athletics Foundation “select” events such as the Millrose Games, Oregon Relays, Arcadia and Mt. SAC Invitationals, and the USATF under-20 championships. The whole experience, she said, taught her a valuable lesson about life.
“It’s not a sprint, but it’s a marathon,” she said. “It’s going to take a while to get where you want. And just because there are people where you want to be doesn’t mean you’re doing something wrong. It just means that their time came before yours.”
Now when Jennings competes in national events, it won’t say Timber Creek next to her name. It will say Nike, the only brand she’s ever competed in. She even went undefeated in that eighth-grade season while wearing the oversized spikes of her coach, Thomas Baker, at Erial Community Church Christian School. Baker remains one of Jennings’ trusted trainers.
In her recent indoor track season, Jennings set school records in the 55-, 200-, 300-, and 400-meter races. In last weekend’s NJSIAA Meet of Champions, Jennings, coming off an illness that limited practice time, finished second (6.94 seconds) in the 55 behind Pennsauken’s Sianni Wynn (6.73).
The Arkansas track team also is sponsored by Nike, so Jennings plans to keep swinging her swooshes for years to come.
“I’ve always just been a Nike girl,” she said. “Sometimes I wonder if other shoes would be better, but I just don’t like change, so I just go straight back to Nike. They fit completely great on my feet. I think I’ve molded my foot to be a Nike foot.”