Cypress Ridge HS, Houston, TX, c/o 2024
AthleticNET Bio
Rylee Hampton’s first exposure to track and field was in the seventh grade. It was the first year it was offered at her school and she decided to try it. Each day her coaches would have her try different events. It took some time before she found her niche.
“They were just trying everybody in different events. I remember we tried the pole vault one day, and the next day we tried the mile and I was like, ‘no, no.’ Then they said ‘you might have to do the hurdles.’ And I said ‘alright’. They immediately put me in hurdles, because I guess I was flexible. Then I kind of just stuck with it since then. ”
She adapted to the hurdles pretty easily. She had done gymnastics for a few years and the flexibility she had and that the coaches saw in her made her a good fit for the hurdles. She began with the longer hurdles and broke the district record in her first meet. As time went on she became better at the shorter 100m hurdles.
She participated in summer track in those seasons developing her hurdle technique and getting more experience. She didn’t have any expectations her freshman year.
“Coming into that season, I was just doing track to have fun really. At the beginning of the season, I was like ‘yeah, I’m not going anywhere with this. I’m just not a fast one.’ I was running so bad,” she says.
As the season marched on, she began to see a change.
“The further on I got, the better I got. When I actually got to the championship, I was just happy to be there, really.”
She came away with a fifth in the 100m hurdles (13.76, +6.1) at the Texas 6A State meet. Her 300m hurdle best that season was 43.36 which placed her a non-qualifying fourth in her region meet.
She continued to work at it and in her sophomore year, she finished third in the 100m hurdles (13.73,+2.3) and fifth in the 300m hurdles(42.23) at the state championships.
This past year, her coaches, Marlon Odom and Will Collins, emphasized weight training. At first she didn’t see the connection between training and running, but later found it to be very beneficial. This past season, her performances were her best to date.
One of her signature wins during the regular season came at the Texas Relays. In the preliminaries, she ran a windy 13.31(2.1) and was the fastest qualifier. Then in the finals she edged Makeriah Harris by .004 to win with a 13.18. Her comments on that win give some insight…
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