Kendra Harrison

Kendra Harrison

Kendra Harrison in 2015
Personal information
Nickname(s) Kenni Harrison
Nationality American
Born (1992-09-18) September 18, 1992
Clayton, NC
Height 5 ft 4 in (1.63 m)
Sport
Sport Sprint, hurdles, running
College team Kentucky
Team Adidas
Coached by Edrick Floreal
Achievements and titles
Personal best(s)

100 metres hurdles: 12.36
400 metres hurdles: 54.09

60 metres hurdles: 7.87
Medal record
Women's athletics
Competitor for the  United States

Kendra "Keni" Harrison (born September 18, 1992) is an American hurdler. In 2015 she won NCAA championship titles both indoors and outdoors and placed second in the 100 m hurdles at the United States championships.

Early life

Kendra Harrison was born in Tennessee on September 18, 1992, and adopted by Gary and Karon Harrison; she grew up in a large family with ten other children, eight of them also adopted.[1][2] Harrison's first sports were cheerleading and soccer; she took up track and field at Clayton High School.[2] She soon became a leading scholastic hurdler, winning state championship titles at the 2010 and 2011 North Carolina Class 4A state meets; in 2011 she also won the 100 m hurdles at the New Balance Nationals and was named Gatorade North Carolina Girls Track & Field Athlete of the Year.[3]

NCAA

After graduating from Clayton High in 2011 Harrison went to Clemson University; as a freshman in 2012 she was Atlantic Coast Conference champion in the 400 m hurdles and the 4 × 400 m relay and qualified for the NCAA championships in both hurdles races.[4] She competed in the 2012 Olympic Trials in the 100 m hurdles, but was eliminated in the heats.[4] In 2013 she placed fifth in the 100 m hurdles (12.88) and fourth in the 400 m hurdles (55.75) at the NCAA outdoor championships.[4][5]

Harrison transferred from Clemson to the University of Kentucky after the 2013 season, together with sprinter Dezerea Bryant and coach Tim Hall.[2] She continued to develop, winning both the 100 m hurdles (12.86) and the 400 m hurdles (54.76) at the 2014 Southeastern Conference (SEC) championships; she was the first athlete to win both events since 1999.[2] She entered the NCAA outdoor championships as the leading favorite and collegiate leader in the 400 m hurdles, but failed to match her personal best and lost to Texas A&M's Shamier Little; in the 100 m hurdles she placed fifth for the second consecutive year.[2][4][6]

Harrison injured her hamstring in the winter of 2014–15 and missed the early part of the 2015 indoor season.[7] She returned in time to win the 60 m hurdles at the SEC and NCAA indoor championships, setting personal bests in both meets; her time in the NCAA meet (7.87 seconds) ranked her fourth in the world that indoor season.[4] Harrison also won her first outdoor NCAA title in 2015, winning the 100 m hurdles in 12.55; in the 400 m hurdles she placed second to Little in a personal best 54.09, at that point the second-fastest in the world that year.[4][8] At the 2015 United States championships, which doubled as trials for the World Championships in Beijing, Harrison decided to concentrate on the 100 m hurdles only; she set a personal all-conditions best of 12.46w in the heats and ran 12.56 (-0.1) in the final, placing a close second to 2008 Olympic Champion Dawn Harper-Nelson and qualifying for the American team.[8] The Americans were heavy favorites for the world championships, but underperformed; Harrison took a false start in the semi-finals and was disqualified.[9]

Professional

Keni opened her 2016 indoor season winning the 60 metres hurdles in Lexington, Kentucky, Karlsruhe, Germany and Glasgow in 7.92 - watch her races McCravy Memorial Final 60 m hurdles 2016 Glasgow Grand Prix Karlsruhe Germany.[10] Her time ranks 10th in the world.[11]

References

  1. ↑ "Kendra Harrison: A Passion for the Hurdles". The Hurdle Magazine. May 2014.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Story, Mark (May 2, 2015). "Mark Story: From a superhero, UK track star Kendra Harrison finds her winning edge". Lexington Herald-Leader. Retrieved June 28, 2015.
  3. ↑ "Harrison, Winfrey Named Gatorade NC Track Athletes of the Year". MileSplit. June 23, 2011. Retrieved June 28, 2015.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Tilastopaja profile for Kendra Harrison
  5. ↑ Kendra Harrison Clemson profile
  6. ↑ Pfeifer, Jack (June 9, 2014). "NCAA FORMCHART—Women". Track & Field News. Retrieved June 28, 2015.
  7. ↑ Most, Jake (June 12, 2015). "Hurdles 'nerd' Kendra Harrison an ideal fit at UK". UKAthletics.com. Retrieved June 28, 2015.
  8. 1 2 Terwillegar, Kyle (June 27, 2015). "Seven More Collegians Qualify For IAAF World Championships at USATF Outdoors". U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association. Retrieved June 28, 2015.
  9. ↑ Rowbottom, Mike (September 15, 2015). "Williams sisters keeping up family tradition in the sprint hurdles". International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF). Retrieved November 3, 2015.
  10. ↑ IAAF report in Germany
  11. ↑ 2016 world short hurdle rankings

External links

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