Sports
Girls Track: Hurdles No Problem for Young Alexis Pierre-Antoine
After transitioning to hurdle events less than two years ago, Evergreen Park's Alexis Pierre-Antoine is already one of the nation's premier hurdlers for her age.
Dwayne Pierre-Antoine had a problem that most parents of young children are all too familiar with. How could he get his 9-year-old daughter Alexis to stop running around all the time? How could he put her seemingly endless energy to good use?
“She was bouncing off the walls, and I had to get her into something,” Dwayne said. “We tried gymnastics. We tried baseball, soccer, softball, the whole gamut of things.”
So, Dwayne went to a sport he was familiar with from back in his high school days: track and field. Alexis joined the LV’s Cheetahs Track Club, starting off her track career in elementary school.
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But the club wasn’t exactly what Alexis and Dwayne were looking for. There were too many people, and Alexis wasn’t getting adequate training. This was evident to Dwayne at one of her first competitions.
“We were at a track meet and (Illinois Elite Track Club) was destroying everybody,” Dwayne said. “And, I was like, ‘I have to find out about this team.’ ”
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Charting a New Course
Alexis, an Evergreen Park resident, tried out for Illinois Elite the following season and made the team.
“When she first came out for track, I really didn’t know what she was going to be,” said Angelo Brown, head coach and founder of Illinois Elite since 2005. “(Alexis) was really thin, kind of small, very shy. It was just a matter of seeing if this was girl was going to be able to make the team, No. 1.”
Alexis proved to be a formidable distance runner when she first started with Illinois Elite. She competed in the 1500-meter run and the 800, with most of her success coming in the half-mile. She made it to the Junior Olympics during her first three years with Illinois Elite and trimmed her personal-best time in the 800 to 2:36.09.
But as Alexis grew taller and stronger, the coaches thought she might be better suited for shorter distances.
“The 800 and long distance wasn’t really me,” Alexis said. “I didn’t like it because it was tiring. I didn’t like it at all.”
Standing at a lanky 5-7, Alexis became a good candidate for hurdles, an event she had always had her eye on.
“I’ve always wanted to be a hurdler,” Alexis said. “It was kind of like an obstacle course.”
She got her shot starting in 2010, training during the indoor season and finally getting into competition when the outdoor season started in spring. Alexis capped her season with a trip to the AAU Junior Olympics National Championship meet
in Norfolk, Va. She finished eighth in the 80-meter hurdles (13.86).
According to her coach, Alexis’ success was a product of her relentless training. Brown points to Alexis’ participation in Illinois Elite’s offseason training–from September through December–as one of the reasons she’s adapted so quickly to the hurdle events.
“She’s a gym rat, she likes to be in the gym,” Brown said. “She’s a kid that if I ask her to do something, she’s going to do that and some.”
No Slowing Her Down
Alexis' solid performances have continued into 2011. At the Illinois Elementary School Association state track meet, she took first in the 7th Grade Class A 100-meter hurdles in 15.38 seconds, more than one second faster than the second-place finisher. Alexis also placed second in the 200 (27.66) for Saint Bernadette Catholic Academy.
There’s still work to be done, however, and Alexis realizes it. Hurdle events can be as much about technique as they are about speed.
“Getting my hand to touch my lead leg so I can snap over the hurdle faster and get my time lower,” said Alexis when asked what specifically she needed to work on.
Alexis’ background as a middle-distance runner will allow her to be competitive in the 300 hurdles as well as the 100 hurdles when she gets to high school. And, while she just recently turned 13, those around her know she has the potential to accomplish big things down the road.
“I think we really found something special in her with the hurdles,” Brown said. “I think she has the potential one day to be a state champ. She really works hard at it. She’s passionate about it. That’s something she’s taken on about the hurdles. She owns it.”
