South Fayette Middle
School Junior Olympian
aims for 2024 medal.
BY PAUL GLASSER
G
race Howard, a sixth grade student at South Fayette Middle
School, hopes to compete at the 2024 Summer Olympics.
She has already started on the path by winning her third
medal at the Junior Olympics in Sacramento in July. More than
7,500 youngsters from across the country competed in a variety of
events. Grace won sixth place in the high jump competition for girls
age 11-12 with a jump of 4 feet, 11 inches. She says she excels at the
high jump because she’s 5 feet, 3 inches tall and has long legs.
“It’s almost like you are floating in the air,” Grace says.
She was nervous before she competed but used tips from
her coaches to take her mind off of the task at hand. Grace likes
cupcakes, so she pretends there is a cupcake tree over the bar.
“If you don’t think about it too hard, it comes more naturally,” she
explains. “My coaches are a big part of this, because without them I
wouldn’t have gone to the Junior Olympics in the first place.”
Grace hoped to do better in the high jump event because she tied
for second place at the 2014 Junior Olympics. She also won sixth
place in 2015.
“After I thought about it, I realized that a lot of people would have
been happy to take my sixth place spot,” she says. “I will definitely
be back next year.”
Grace qualified for the 200-meter sprint but decided to focus
on the hurdles and high jump instead. She also competed in the
80-meter hurdles and achieved a personal record of 14.52 seconds.
“Running with the wind blowing in your face is really fun,” she
notes.
Grace was inspired by watching the 2016 Olympics on television
after returning home from Sacramento. Allyson Felix is her favorite
runner and she won gold in the women’s 4x100 and 4x400 meter
relays and silver in the women’s 400-meter sprint.
“She’s very relaxed when she runs, and her reaction at the start is
very good,” Grace explains. “She smiles at the end too, which is very
nice.”
Felix ran from lane four, which is now Grace’s favorite starting
position. She wants to improve her reaction time because she
noticed that many other runners at the Junior Olympics hesitated
when the starting shot was fired.
“My goal is to be the first one out of the blocks,” she says.
“MY COACHES ARE A BIG PART OF THIS,
BECAUSE WITHOUT THEM I WOULDN’T
HAVE GONE TO THE JUNIOR OLYMPICS IN
THE FIRST PLACE.”
Grace started running when she was six years old. She was living
in Texas at the time and she beat older boys in the neighborhood in
several races.
“It was the first clue she had a natural running ability,” says her
mother, Yvette.
Grace runs on the Wings of Moon team. Yvette says she will support
her dream to compete in the Olympics, but notes that her daughter
will have to put in a lot of hard work and make sacrifices. However, she
won’t pressure her to aim for the Olympics either.
“We will support her in the sport she loves and excels at,” she says.
“The future is the future.” n
South Fayette | Winter 2016 | icmags.com 13