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Sports

Largo High Grad Concluding All-American Career

Upper Marlboro resident is a track standout at Clemson and will compete this weekend at USA Outdoor Championships.

Michaylin Golladay of Upper Marlboro did not have a passion for the hurdles while at Largo High School. And for good reason. As a prep star, she was a state champion in the 100 meters, 200 meters, 300 meters and long jump at either the indoor or outdoor level from 2004 to 2006.

So there wasn't much time or energy to be one of the best in yet another event.

Golladay did compete in the hurdles while at Largo but it was not until her third year at Clemson (SC) University -- a Division I program in the Atlantic Coast Conference and a league rival with Maryland -- that she became serious in that event.

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"I hurdled when I was in the Upper Marlboro Boys and Girls Club," Golladay told Patch in a phone interview from South Carolina on Monday. "I always knew how to hurdle but it was not my favorite event."

She has made up for lost time and this year was named a USTFCCCA All-American in the 100-meter hurdles, as well as the 4 x 100 relay. Over the past two calendar years she has been an NCAA Qualifier in the 60-meter hurdles, 100-meter hurdles and 4x100-meter relay.

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Golladay, with an eye on a pro career, will compete in the 100-meter hurdles at the USA Outdoor Championships this week in Oregon. The preliminaries in her event are this Saturday.

"I try not to focus on the all of the competition that will be there," she said. "I will just try and run my best."

An all-ACC performer this year in the event, Golladay graduated in May 2010 from Clemson with a degree in health sciences and competed this spring outdoor season as a graduate student.

She said this spring was the best team she has been a part of. "Last year at this time it was the best team. This year we just took it up a notch," she said. "With these coaches, [the program] is going to keep going."

Golladay started youth track with the Upper Marlboro program when her family moved from Forestville. "I did everything. They had us do everything" in several events, she said of the local club.

She attended seventh grade at James Madison Middle School in Upper Marlboro and eighth grade at Gwynn Park Middle before entering Largo High as a freshman.

Lawrence Johnson, a former coach at Virginia Tech, became the head coach prior to her junior season at Clemson and that is when her career began to take off in the hurdles.

At Largo she was part of two state outdoor title teams and won four letters in indoor and outdoor track. Golladay, 23, is the daughter of Sheretta and James Golladay of Upper Marlboro. Her father told Patch he played basketball at Bishop McNamara and a year of college ball at Saint Mary's in Nova Scotia, Canada.

Her brother, David, was on the basketball team at Division I Mount St. Mary's in Frederick County last season. He graduated from Wise and averaged 5.3 points per game for The Mount last season as a redshirt freshman who started 30 of 31 games.

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