For two years, track athlete Jozalyn Albright has been looking to beat her personal best time in the 400-meter. She placed second in the city-wide middle school championship in the track and field event for Richards Middle School in both the sixth and seventh grades. As an eighth grader, her competitive spirit has been nagging the 14-year-old to get her time from 1:02 in the event to just under the one minute mark.
Albright actually has two primary reasons to break her personal record. First, Albright wants to head off to high school in the fall having the incentive that she has something to bring to the table as a high school athlete. Second, the rising freshman has a secret desire to best one particular athlete by shaving a few seconds off her time. That athlete would just happen to be her twin brother, Clyde Albright, Jr.
Both of the Albright siblings run track for the Warriors. Albright’s brother is older by 11 minutes and has her beat in running the 400-meter by a few seconds. While she cannot change the order of their birth, she can keep up the pursuit of becoming faster than her twin.
“We are close. Very close. But like all brothers and sisters, sometimes we get at it, and I really want to beat him when it comes to running a faster 400,”says Albright, smiling.
Beginning in the sixth grade at Richards, Albright decided to try out for the track team. She had been interested in running for a while, and the sport attracted her. As it turned out, Albright had natural talent. She ran three events her first season; the 400-meter, the 4×100 relay and the 4×400 relay. From that day to this, the 400-meter remains her favorite.
“I just seem to have a love of running. The 400 gives me the chance to compete really with just myself. I like relays, but the 400 fits me,” she says.
As a seventh grader at Richards, Albright picked up two more sports. She added volleyball in the fall and basketball in the winter, making her a three-sport athlete. Volleyball quickly became Albright’s second love behind her passion for running track. She says her greatest strength in the sport is spiking, but her ability for a court sport didn’t exactly extend to basketball. “I really played basketball for the conditioning. I wanted something to help me stay in shape between volleyball and track. Basketball was not my sport, but I was glad I tried it,” she admits.
Last track season Albright added the 200-meter event to her three standard events. Once again she placed second in the city-wide championship and even though she placed fourth in her new 200-meter event, she doesn’t like to talk about it.
Instead, Albright prefers to focus on this year. When interviewed for this article, Albright was in the middle of her track season, running for the Warriors in three events. Only one relay race is part of her program this season, the 4×100 relay. Her other two events are the individual 200-meter and 400-meter races. She dropped basketball this school year but did continue with volleyball.
She has hopes of perhaps being a multi-sport athlete next school year when she moves up the street from Richards Middle School to Hardaway High School where the straight-A student will be a part of Hardaway’s International Baccalaureate Programme. She hopes to play volleyball, run track, and might even try her hand at soccer.
“Jozalyn is self-motivated, determined, and hardworking. Because of thes
e strengths, she will be a success in whatever she tries to accomplish in life,” says Richards’ track coach, Gwendolyn Ingram.
Having coached track for 12 years, Ingram has the experience to recognize not just talent in athletes but what makes good athletes successful at the next level.
“Jozalyn has been more than the ideal student-athlete. She has shown the ability to balance schoolwork and athletics,” says Ingram.
High school soccer is just an idea to ponder at this point, but Albright is pretty certain she will have a personal best under a minute in the 400-meter before she steps on the Hawks’ track. If she loses sight of her goal, she doesn’t have to look very far for motivation.
“My brother is going to Hardaway, too. He wants to run track and probably play football. I can’t let him be faster than me,” she says with a smile.
Getting to know Jozalyn:
Family: Parents, Danya and Clyde, Sr.; one brother and one sister
Favorite food: Pizza
Music: R&B
Favorite movie: Because of Winn Dixie
Athlete she admires: Allyson Felix
Favorite hobby: Writing poetry and short stories
Church she attends: St. John AME
One thing her parents always tell her: You are a student before you are an athlete.
Person she most admires: Her mom
Ritual before athletic event: Prayer for team
Favorite subject: Math
Best thing about Richards Middle School: Teachers are very helpful and supportive of sports
Rising Star/Columbus Valley/June 2014
Jozalyn Albright
Richards Middle School
By Beth Welch
Photos by Jerry Christenson
Competitive spirit runs deep for track athlete
