William Hough (NC) High School senior Kayla Davis, who competes for Run U Xpress, announced her college commitment on Saturday, and she chose the University of Florida
Davis, the No. 5 ranked athlete in the Class of 2022, took several official visits and narrowed down her final choices to Florida, the University of Texas and the University of Alabama.
"I made my decision by going through the three schools, and Florida had the top dental school as well as Coach Mouse. He somewhat portrays my mom and my dad and they have the same type of practice regimen and that made it easier for me to make my decision," Davis saaid.
Davis has been the best long sprinter in the state of North Carolina ever since she first stepped a foot on a track, and she has been the best the state has ever seen. She holds four North Carolina track records, many of which are at the top of the national all-time rankings, and that's with one more year left: She still has a full indoor and outdoor season to improve on her personal bests.
In 2019, Davis was a gold medalist on USA's Pan American U20 Championship 4x400, and it was there where she ran a sub-51 split.
| Event | Time | NC All-Time | US All-Time | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Indoor 300m | 37.38 | |||
| Indoor 400m | 52.96 | |||
| Indoor 500m | 1:11.90 | |||
| Outdoor 400m | 51.17 | |||
| Outdoor 200m | 23.08 |
Davis has been a superstar on the track over her career, winning many USATF and AAU Junior Olympic Games titles, this coming before she entered high school with personal bests of 11.73 for the 100m, 23.34 for the 200m and 52.54 for the 400m.
Her 52.54 as an eighth-grader broke Demetria Washington's 400m state record of 52.74 before she was even a freshman.
A year later she continued to live up to expectations, running a 400m open time of 51.17 seconds as she kicked past Athing Mu -- now the 2020 Olympic 800m Champion -- for a New Balance Nationals Outdoor Championship.
Davis would go on over the summer to win the USATF U20 400m national championship and the Pan-American U20 400m Championship, all while being just 15 years old.
As long ago as that feels, though, Davis has only had one indoor and outdoor season since COVID-19. A hamstring injury limited her 2021 indoor season.
Despite that injury, she was able to bounce back to competition late in the outdoor season to run some impressive marks off limited build-up.
| distance | time | NC | national |
|---|---|---|---|
| 400m | 53.06 | 2nd | 8th |
| 200m | 23.89 | 2nd | 50th |
| 100m | 11.84 | 4th | 129th |
Davis said on Saturday she will kick off her Indoor track season in January and will look to improve on her marks from 200m up to 500m. She is gearing up for a big final outdoor season before heading south to Gainesville.