Spotlight On Youth: Ottawa Hills High School Track Star McKenzee Powell
It is surprising that McKenzee Powell's name is not known more all over the city and the state of Michigan for her accomplishments in track and field.
As a 2021 graduating senior from Ottawa Hills High School, at the State Finals, in the 300 meters hurdles she took second place in and became #2 in the State of Michigan.
The relay team also broke the school record with Mackenzee running the last leg of the race, bringing them from behind to winning their heat.
These are just a few of her accomplishments. In this interview with track coach at Ottawa Hills High School, he discusses how special and dedicated to the hurdles event she was as a high school student.
GRT: As a sophomore, did McKenzee break any records?
Coach Tony: "As a sophomore, McKenzee broke the schools 300 meter record," said Coach Tony who is the track coach at Ottawa Hills High School.
GRT: What kind of student was she?
Coach Tony: She has always been a pretty decent student. She is usually pretty reliable student to be academically eligible to run on the track team. A lot of kids struggled with home school during the pandemic and I think that is what dropped her grade point average a little. The eleventh grade was kind of brutal for her due to the pandemic.
GRT: As a coach, what kind of growth did you see in her?
Coach Tony: At first she was one of those athletes who just came out because the basketball coach had asked her to try out for the track team. She was playing basketball to stay in shape but I don't think that she really don't think that she tried to be dedicated in it but once she got to the track program she started to taking a liking to the hurdles and really started applying herself. In a short time she excelled at the hurdles. She was an all conference her freshmen year and was one of the best hurdlers in the conference. I think that she quit basketball to focus on running the hurdles from their on out.
GRT: Did McKenzee get any scholarships?
Coach Tony: Yes, she had a lot of scholarship offers. She missed her junior year because of the Pandemic and during her senior year she didn't have any motivation. Usually we start back in October or November, but we didn't have a season so she didn't come out until March. She was pretty much out of shape for about three weeks before she really started getting serious again but that was because she wasn't sure if we were going to have a season or not because of the pandemic. I still saw her grow from having no interest in the hurdles to seriously focusing on be one of the best hurdle runners in the state of Michigan.
GRT: One is the most important thing that people should know about McKenzee?
Coach Tony: I knew that she was going to be special was when she told me that she would like to try running the hurdles. She watched other team members run the hurdles and told me that she felt that it was something that she could do. She got out there and put one hundred percent effort into it and from that day on she has been the best hurdler that I have ever seen to come from Ottawa Hills High School and I knew from the start that she was going to be special. Hurdles are a really technical event but she caught on like a fish to water. She was all conference her freshmen year, all state, national qualifier her sophomore year, top nine in the nation in the 400 hurdles in her freshmen year. All of these accomplishments let me know that she turned out to be as special as I thought she would be.
The Grand Rapids Times solutes McKenzee Powell and all of her accomplishments on and off the track field, continue to make Grand Rapids proud of your efforts.
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