Quick on her feet

If Jonaé McAllister gets a Division I track-and-field scholarship one day, she can credit it to soccer. Like the other 5-year-olds, she enjoyed running up and down the field for the Marian Anderson Monarchs soccer team in the Philadelphia Department of Recreation league.

As she kept playing, her father, John, noticed she ran a lot faster than the other kids. When he asked his daughter if she was interested in trying track, she decided to give it a go.

She started running with the West Philly-based United Stars club. Five years later, the 15-year-old is so quick she is winning gold medals against the fastest runners in the state, as well as the nation. Her résumé includes capturing the 4×400-meter relay gold at last month’s USATF National Junior Olympic Track and Field Championships, held in Indianapolis, Ind. Representing the United Stars, McAllister came up big with a career-best 55.8-second split time in the 4×400.

McAllister also took home a bronze last spring when her Carver High School for Engineering and Science placed third in the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association AA state track-and-field championship. McAllister also won gold with the 4×400 relay team, setting a PIAA record (3:53.43).

"It feels good," said McAllister, of the 1800 block of Sigel Street. "Not too many kids are blessed with talent. I want to use it to my advantage by getting a full scholarship to college.

"After that, I hope to one day [run] in the Olympics."

FOR NOW, MC ALLISTER, who has several Engineering and Science grads as relatives, is quite content excelling on the high school, as well as the Junior Olympic, levels. Last spring, Engineering and Science won the first PIAA medals in School District of Philadelphia history. The 2004-05 school year marked the first time Philadelphia Public League teams were eligible to compete for state championships. The downside was a majority of city squads were eliminated in the first rounds.

McAllister said the win caught a lot of teams off guard. But when the three-day event at Shippensburg University ended, everybody knew McAllister and her teammates were the real deal.

"We went in there representing PIAA District XII, and everybody thought we weren’t going to do anything. We were underdogs, I guess you could say," McAllister said.

Though the athletes stayed in Shippensburg’s dorms, McAllister still has a few years to think about college. She said she is looking to leave Pennsylvania to pursue her education and her athletic career.

By competing in the Junior Olympics for five years, she has had a chance to see other college towns. She spent the final week of July competing on the Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis campus with more than 6,000 athletes ages 18 and younger. Entry for the national championship was based on performances at preliminary, association and regional levels of the 2005 USATF Junior Olympic program.

"At nationals, you really have to step up the training because you are competing against the best teams from all over the country," said McAllister, who also advanced to the semifinals in the 200 and 400 events.

Through all her track success, McAllister remains active in soccer. She plays for the Anderson Monarchs 16-and-under team and, two years ago, her squad won a Philadelphia Department of Recreation city championship. As a forward and midfielder, she does plenty of running up and down the soccer field, but once winter comes around, her focus will switch to grabbing more gold.

"I don’t want to just make the state finals on the relay team, I also want to make it in the individual events," said the athlete who also excels in the 200 and 400. "I missed by a 10th of a second."