It's a challenge to be recruited in track and field. How about being recruited in two sports?
Even though she's a part of the Class of 2025, Fort Bend Christian Academy's Bayleigh Minor already has caught the attention of coaches in both volleyball and track and field.
Minor, the daughter of two-time World Indoor 4x400m champion and world-record holder Deon Minor, began competing in track at 10-years-old and has been a part of the volleyball community since the seventh grade.
The 6-foot middle-hitter recently wrapped up her junior season on the volleyball court and was named a First Team All-State, All-District and All-State Tournament Team player.
In 2021, she ended her high school season with 344 kills, 85 blocks and a 0.458 hit percentage.
Meanwhile, on the track Minor has racked up seven TAPPS state championships in the 200m, 400m, long jump and triple jump.
After Minor won the TAPPS titles in the 200m and triple jump and finished third in the long jump this spring, she was named this year's Texas Private School Track and Field Coaches Association Athlete Of The Year.
On the volleyball court, Minor led Fort Bend Christian Academy (TX) to a 33-6 season and a third-place finish at states.
* Bayleigh Minor wins 2022 AAU Junior Olympic title in the 400m
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It was obvious to anyone looking: Minor had the resume to excel at the Division I level in either sport.
But it wasn't until her freshman year that Minor began to see the vision of being able to compete in both sports in college.
"Whenever I first started playing volleyball, I didn't expect to be as good as I am," Minor told MileSplit. "It wasn't until last year that I could [see myself doing] both."
It's not impossible. Shelbi Vaughan, the national high school record-holder in the discus, competed in volleyball and track and field at Texas A&M during her freshman and sophomore seasons before she just focused on throws.
* Bayleigh and Deon Minor share more on their relationship at the AAU Junior Olympic Games in Houston
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Minor says she wants to find a program that will accommodate her being able to compete in both -- just like Vaughan.
"It's pretty important [to find a school that could allow me to play volleyball and run track] because I don't know what I want to do yet," Minor said. "If I do decide later down the road just to choose one, then that will be an easy decision to make probably because it's just one sport. I want to find the right school that's willing to work with both the coaches and my needs and wants. That's really important."
To kick off the recruiting process, Minor faced her hardest challenge.
"When volleyball first started, the gates opened," Minor said. "I got a bunch of calls and messages. It took me almost a full day to respond to everyone on the first day. June 15th is the first day coaches can talk to you. I got emails at 11:59 to 12 am the next day. They kept coming in."
So far this year, Minor has taken visits to Kentucky, Arkansas and Rice and visited the volleyball and track and field facilities.
As her junior season unfolds, the biggest thing that Minor is keeping in mind is not to rush the process by getting to know the coaches and potential future teammates.
On the track, she looks forward to adding more TAPPS titles and setting new personal bests in the sprints and jumps. Minor enters the 2024 track season with bests of 23.89 in the 200m, 53.43 in the 400m, 19-0.5 in the long jump, and 38-3 in the triple jump.
* Bayleigh Minor (No. 10) goes up for a kill at a volleyball game
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