June 12, 2009

Stuart Kantor
Special to Rivals High

"Mom, do coyotes bark?"

At 5:30 a.m. ? with only the headlights of mom's car for reassurance ? Kori Carter is working out just two-and-a-half hours before her hair appointment for prom.

Kori's dad, Bruce Carter, confirms his daughter is "one of the hardest workers I know."

As spectators, we bear witness to the beauty and eloquence of the world's greatest athletes and often forget that those precious few moments of highlight-reel collections are the culmination of thousands of hours of work, sweat and dedication.

For Carter, who owns the nation's fastest high school times this year in the 100 (13.67), 300 (41.09) and 400 hurdles (59.89), her dedication to hurdles began in the eighth grade.

"Everyone can run, but not everyone can hurdle," she said. "I like the aggressiveness, and I have a short attention span, so the hurdles occupy my attention."

Ironic, because the more attention she devotes to them, the less time she actually spends on the track. And this is quite by design. According to her father, she adheres to a simple creed: "She prays with her competition before the race. She hugs them after, but during the race, she doesn't want them to believe they belong on the track with her."

For the junior from Claremont (Calif.) High School, her competitive nature belies her pleasantly outgoing demeanor. Yet, without this innate drive, she never would have run a sub-60 in the 400-meter hurdles at the Pomona-Pitzer Track & Field Invitational on April 4.

"To accomplish this was amazing," Carter said. " It's been a goal of mine for a long time."

Her next goal is not only sub-40 in the 300 hurdles, but also breaking the all-time high school record (39.98) currently held by fellow Californian Lashinda Demus (Wilson, Long Beach, 1991).

"I can get it," Carter said confidently. "And then I want to get under 59 in the 400s."

At the Arcadia Invitational on April 11, Carter achieved the trifecta; on the heels of her phenomenal race at Pomona-Pitzer, she doubled with a 13.67 in the 100 hurdles and a 41.09 in the 300 hurdles to claim the nation's top spot in all three hurdles events - a perch she has yet to relinquish.

"Coach [Richard] Holmes has brought more speed into my training regiment this year, and I've worked with weights for the first time," Carter said.

Carter's 100-hurdle workouts include short sprints and moving the hurdles closer than regulation to improve turnover and quickness.

"For the 300s and 400s, I concentrate on finding a rhythm since they're a little less aggressive," Carter said.

Mix in jump rope, repeat 300s and 800 work in the preseason and it's quite possible Carter's name will someday be mentioned in the same breath as her role model, Olympian Allison Felix. For the associate student body vice president with a near 4.0 GPA, success is the only option.

"I want to be a surgeon, a general surgeon, where the surgeries vary every day," she said, highlighting her weakness of the routine and habitual. "I watch Grey's Anatomy, and I like the blood and gore."

As a world-class athlete, fortunately very little of life is routine. She competed for the United States in Poland last summer, and although she didn't adjust to the native food ("I ate at McDonald's most of the time") she enjoyed the experience. "I got to meet a lot of great athletes like Jordan Hasay, and I worked on my Spanish," Carter said. "I also got to see all of the work I need to compete at the next level."

Success at the next level will depend largely on her ability to explode out of the blocks more efficiently, technique she's improving with the aid of U.S. Olympian Angela Williams.

"Her dad was my first coach ever and a big mentor to me," Carter said. "She's helping with my block work, but I learn from her experience of competing in big meets; she's at a level I'm aspiring to."

This summer Carter will hopefully have the opportunity to chase gold at the sixth IAAF World Youth Championships in Bressanone, Italy (July 8-12), after Nike Outdoor Nationals in Greensboro, N.C. (June 18-20).

For a young lady of deep faith, a visit to Italy would add to the memories.

"My faith is a huge part of who I am," Carter said. "Track has brought me closer to God."

Carter's spirituality is the calming yin to her aggressive track yang. It's been this way for years.

"Kori's first love is football," her father said. "She was the MVP of eighth-grade flag football as a running back. She wanted to continue playing in high school with the boys, but I wouldn't let her."

Her drive to compete is matched only by the amount of food she claims to bring to track meets.

"I have a wagon for all the food I bring," she said. "There's bagels, pineapple and other fruit, Gatorade, water, and mom's pasta [three-colored curly pasta with artichoke, tuna and onions]."

Carter is definitely well fueled, and she needs to be, for whom else would venture out in the rain on Christmas Eve and run 200s on hills? Only those who desire to leave the competition ? and the coyotes ? behind.

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