Kayla Davis Sets NC 400 State Record & 13-14 Age Group World Record


Feature We Ran On Davis Two Weeks Ago

Kayla Davis (Run U XPress) confirms that this was the year of the 400 for North Carolina girls this morning at the University of Kansas.  She was the fastest qualifier in Friday's prelims clocking a 53.81 and was a heavy favorite going into the final.  Davis came into the meet at NC#1 and NC#2 All-Time after her win at USATF Region 3 running 53.15.  



It's been one of the best years for the 400 in North Carolina state history in the girls 400 with Kiya Oviosun NC#5 All-Time 53.53, Alysia Johnson NC#6 All-time 53.86 and Maya Singletary NC#9 All-Time 54.09.  With plenty of candidates to challenge the North Carolina State Record it was the middle schooler Kayla Davis that was able to take it down!  Luckily all of these girls will still be in high school, or middle school, next season.

Davis dominated the final rewriting many record books in the process.  Davis won by nearly two seconds running 52.54 breaking the USATF JO Meet Record, USATF 13-14 Girls National Record, 14 Year Old World Record.  Davis is currently 13 years old, but I believe her birthday qualifies her as being 14 years old for record and age group purposes.  

The previous 13-14 Age Group World Record was held by Jamaica's Chris'Ann Gordon set back in 2009 in Kingston, Jamaica.  Gordon was a 14 Year Old, if Davis is classified by USATF as a 13 Year Old (Birthday Dec. 21st) she would have broken the 13 Year Old Record of 53.10 set by Robin Reynolds in 2007.



Davis tackled the remarkable feat breaking the North Carolina 400m Dash State Record before she even entered high school.  Demetria Washington's record had stood for 20 years, and was the only girl sub 53 until today.

North Carolina All-Time List Girls 400 Meter Dash

Rank Name Team  Time Year
1

Kayla Davis

Run U Xpress 52.54 2017
2

Demetria Washington

Terry Sanford 52.74 1997
3

McKinley McNeill

Parkland 53.40 2015
4

Sanura Eley-O'Reilly

Jack Britt 53.43 2010
5

Kiya Oviosun

Southeast Guilford 53.53 2017
6

Alysia Johnson

Hillside 53.87 2017
7

T'Sheila Mungo

Independence 53.92 2011
8

Ariah Graham

Wakefield 53.95 2012
9

Maya Singletary

Hoke County 54.09 2017
10

Anna Cockrell

Providence Day 54.22 2016


Davis also won the 13-14 Girls 200m Dash finals running 23.60 with a +1.2 wind, helped her Run U XPress teammates to a 3rd place finish in the 4x100m Relay running 47.75.  She'll also run the 4x400m Relay to cap of a remarkable meet and season later today for Run U XPress.