Meet Southern Lehigh Whiz Kid McKenzie Browne

While students at were learning their new schedules, McKenzie Browne, a sophomore, was with Team USA at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo., competing in the USA World Team Trials for inline speed skating. From there she headed to Yeosu, South Korea, to compete in the World Championships, where she placed 17th in a field of more than 30 athletes.

McKenzie started speed skating at age 7 when she heard there was going to be a race around Dieruff High School as part of SportsFest. McKenzie “went to Nestor's and bought a pair of skates.“ At SportsFest McKenzie skated in the race where, she said, “speed skaters then told me to practice so I did.“ McKenzie went from that first race to becoming the Freshman Indoor National Champion in 2009 - sweeping both the standard and novice divisions, something that hadn’t been done before in the sport of speed skating.

Her list of accomplishments includes a gold medal in the 300-meter time trial in the track competition and silver medals in the 200-meter time trial and 500-meter sprint in the road competition, making her the overall Sprint Champion for the championships.

During the school year, McKenzie trains at least four or five days a week. When not in school she may train up to three times a day. During the school year McKenzie can be found with her Southern Lehigh High School teammates playing and.

For inline speed skating, World Championships are like the Olympics for athletes in other sports. While not currently an Olympic sport, inline speed skating is on the short list to be added to the Summer Olympics in the future. If this happens, McKenzie could very well represent the USA in future Summer Olympics.

For McKenzie, competing in "worlds" was “fun -- definitely an experience competing against people from other countries.”