"It uppercut me left and right. I'm filled with a lot of emotion right now and I don't know how to process it."
By Olivia Ekpone - MileSplit
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This spring, South Granville High School senior Shawnti Jackson put everything together to make her senior season one we wouldn't forget.
Her biggest moment came in June.
At the Music City Track Carnival, an annual meet in Nashville, Tennessee featuring professionals, the Raleigh native shattered the previous high school national record in the 100m by five-hundredths of a second, crossing the finish line in a wind-legal time of 10.89 (+0.9), a time that not only set a new standard for high school girls but also won the race.
To add icing on top of the cake, she also beat high schooler Adaejah Hodge, a superstar junior from Montverde Academy.
She became the third girl in high school history to dip under 11 seconds, surpassing Briana Williams and Candace Hill.
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Shawnti Jackson Shatters HS National 100m Record
Shawnti Jackson Erupts For North Carolina 200m State Record!
* Shawnti Jackson after she broke the national high school record in the 100m at the Music City Track Carnival
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"I was excited to win my first pro race and I'm only 18 years old," Jackson told MileSplit. "Winning that was just an excitement in itself. I heard in the faint distance that I went 10.89 and that was another burst. It uppercut me left and right. I'm filled with a lot of emotion right now and I don't know how to process it."
Her performance surpassed Williams' 10.94 from the 2019 Jamaican Senior Championships and it would have been good enough to have finished third at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships this year.
That wasn't her only big-time moment, though. Just a few weeks later at Brooks PR, Jackson ran away from the 100m again, clocking a time of 11.00 (+0.4) seconds, doing so against fellow top-end sprint peer Mia Brahe Pedersen.
* Shawnti Jackson crosses the finish line ahead of Adaejah Hodge in the 200m at the NYC Grand Prix in June
Photo Credit: Kirby Lee/USA Today
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When it came to the 200m, Jackson's last three races were all under 23 seconds.
She set a new North Carolina state record with a lifetime wind-legal best of 22.70, which currently is the third-fastest performance this spring.
She then clocked a time of 22.84 seconds in the prelims of New Balance Nationals Outdoor. While she would later false-start in the finals of that race just hours later, she brushed it off and then tied her personal best to win the NYC Grand Prix a week later in New York City, running 22.70 to beat Hodge -- who had won New Balance Nationals Outdoor without Jackson on the line.
In the quarter, Jackson debuted her outdoor season with a 52.13, which currently sits as the second-fastest performance in the country and in North Carolina state history.
Jackson proved to be the top sprinter in the U.S. and among the best in history over her career, accumulating 57 wins over a historic four-year run.
Sandwiched in between her season opener and winning the sprint trifecta at the NCSHAA 2A State Championships, Jackson produced two standout performances this season at Penn Relays and the Music City Track Carnival.
For the first time, Jackson won her first set of titles against a professional field as a high school sprinter. In one of her final invitationals of the year, she grabbed another victory at the NYC Grand Prix.
This all happened over a two-month period.
Her season isn't fully complete yet.
She is entered to compete at the USA Track and Field U20 Championships in Eugene, Oregon in the 100m and 200m this week at Hayward Field.
Just a year ago, she won USA U20 Outdoor Championships in 11.07w and was able to earn the bronze medal at the event later at World U20s, clocking a time of 11.15 seconds in Cali, Colombia.
Jackson added two relay medals to her collection at the World Athletics U20 Championships. She was a part of the winning 4x400m team, which clocked 3:28.06, and she ran a leg on the 4x100m that sprinted to a new national U20 record of 43.28.
* Shawnti Jackson sprinted to NCHSAA state title and state record of 22.70 this May
Graphic by Joshua Grenade
MileSplit50 Outdoor Season Outline:
Update 6, June 8: Shawnti Jackson TO Top After National HS Record
Update 5, May 18: National Record Holder, Karrie Baloga Moves Up
Update 4, April 20: Mia Brahe-Pedersen Opens Up Outdoor At No. 1
Update 3, April 6: Rylee Hampton Makes A Charge Into The Top 10
Update 2, March 24: Adaejah Hodge Lands At No. 1 Spot
Update 1, March 8: Shawtni Jackson Begins Season At No. 1
MileSplit50 Indoor Season Outline:
Update 5, March 8: Avery Lewis moves into the top five
Update 4, Feb. 22: Shawnti Jackson surges to the top
Update 3, Feb. 9: Sophia Gorriaran secures the top of the chart
Update 2, Jan. 25: Amanda Moll soars to No. 1
Update 1, Jan. 11: Sophia Gorriaran leads the way to begin indoor
MileSplit50 Athlete Of The Year History:
2023 Outdoor AOY: Shawnti Jackson, South Granville
2023 Indoor AOY: Adeajah Hodge, Montverde Academy (FL)
2022 XC AOY: Irene Riggs, Morgantown (WV)
2022 Outdoor AOY: Juliette Whittaker, Mount De Sales (MD)
2022 Indoor AOY: Roisin Willis, Stevens Point (WI)
2021 XC AOY: Natalie Cook, Flower Mound (TX)
2021 Outdoor AOY: Roisin Willis, Stevens Point (WI)
2021 Indoor AOY: Sophia Gorriaran, Moses Brown School
2020 XC AOY: Jenna Hutchins, Science Hill (TN)
2020 Outdoor AOY: No award (Covid year)
2020 Indoor AOY: Athing Mu, Trenton TC (NJ)
2019 XC AOY: Katelyn Tuohy, North Rockland (NY)
2019 Outdoor AOY: Briana Williams, Northeast (Oakland) (FL)
2019 Indoor AOY: Athing Mu, Trenton TC (NJ)
2018 XC AOY: Katelyn Tuohy, North Rockland (NY)
2018 Outdoor AOY: Katelyn Tuohy, North Rockland (NY)
2018 Indoor AOY: Katelyn Tuohy, North Rockland (NY)
"It uppercut me left and right. I'm filled with a lot of emotion right now and I don't know how to process it."