Harding High track star becomes 2-time world champion

CHARLOTTE — A rising senior at Harding University High School is now a two-time world champion.

Akala Garrett just won the Under 20 World Championship in the 400-meter hurdles and in the four by four. Over the weekend, she competed in Colombia where she won gold in both events.

Garrett told Channel 9 about the moment she knew she accomplished her dream.

“Once I realized I crossed the finish line first, it made me cry,” Garrett said. “So there’s a picture of me and my face was all tore up across the finish. It was so funny, but that was just showing the feeling of my first global win.”

She told Channel 9 she wanted to thank everyone who’s supported her journey so far.

Garrett said her next goal is to break records in her senior year.

Double gold: Harding High track star ranks No. 1 in the world in her age group

Channel 9 has previously covered the track star, who is among the best in the world.

In June, the local high school track athlete moved to the number one ranking in the world for athletes under 20 years old after setting a personal best at the Nike Outdoor National Championship.

Garrett won gold in both the women’s 100- and 400-meter hurdles at the Championship. She has now become the first female athlete in a dozen years to win both titles in the same year.

“People tend to talk down on Harding, to talk down on the community because of where we are located,” track coach and Garrett’s mom LaSonja Collins said. “And I want to show that there is light in the darkness.”

On the track, few do it better.

“We’ve pretty much broken every school record that she’s ran in,” Collins said.

When it comes to life, however: “Just the pressures of being one of the top athletes. She doesn’t get a break,” Collins said.

Cheyla Scott, from Butler High School, also competed at the national championship. The reigning state champion tied for second place in the women’s high jump.

Channel 9 has also previously covered the rising senior, who overcame physical and mental challenges to become one of the highest jumpers in the country. For someone who has cleared the highest of highs, Scott said she has also faced the lowest of lows, battling her own thoughts and at one point, depression.

“Yes, there are a lot of good things, things happening outside that people see, but they don’t really understand what you go through yourself,” Scott said. “Corona(virus) came, you kind of really see who really cares about you, don’t really care about you and that’s where the solitarian, the loner came in, and you kind of really don’t know what to do.”

Both athletes competed over the weekend in Eugene, Oregon.

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