Track champ selects Dawgs

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Track champ selects Dawgs

Sports

Friday, 11 March 2011 13:50

News-Gazette Photo/Rick Pedone

Osceola’s four-time state track champion, Tynia Gaither, seated between her parents, Sabrina Johnson and Tony Gaither, selected the University of Georgia from among dozens of offers from elite national track and field programs.

Tynia Gaither was pursued by elite college programs

By Rick Pedone
Sports Editor
The most successful high school sprinter in Osceola County history, Tynia “Tiny” Gaither, will wear the Red and Black of the University of Georgia after she graduates from Osceola High this spring.

Gaither, a four-time state champion, selected the Bulldogs over a list of elite programs that included Florida, Florida State, LSU and Texas A&M. She made her decision in early February.
“It wasn’t supposed to happen that way,” Gaither said.
She explained that she made the trip to Georgia recently to fill her allotment of five recruiting visits.
“I wasn’t expecting that much, but when I got there it really opened my eyes,” she said. “They were the nicest people I’d met of all the places I’ve been, and the facilities are fantastic.”
Gaither said new Bulldogs sprints coach George Cleare of the Bahamas played a major role in his decision.
As a member of the Bahamian Junior Olympics program, Gaither has become familiar with many of that nation’s premier sprinters and several of those lauded Cleare, she said.
“They said they had great experiences working with him,” Gaither said.
Gaither won the Class 4A 100 meters state championship and was a member of Osceola’s gold medal 4 x 100 relay two years ago. Last year, as a junior, Gaither repeated as the 100 meters champion and added the 200 meters gold medal.
Osceola Coach Eric Pinellas said Gaither had offers from the top 13 track programs in the nation.
“She’s the best I’ve had as far as pure speed,” Pinellas said. “This is the culmination of four years of hard work. The SEC, that isn’t bad.”
Gaither, the daughter of former Boise State University sprint champion Sabrina Johnson and Tony Gaither, holds county records in the 100 meters (11.58) and 200 meters (23.58).
She recorded times of 11.67 and 23.90 at the Harmony Invitational last week.
Today she runs on her home track at the Kowboy Invitational, which begins at 9 a.m. The running preliminaries begin at noon.
Pinellas said Gaither is capable of dropping her times significantly before the Class 4A state meet in early May.
“Her goal is to run 11.29 and 22.90 this year,” Pinellas said. “That isn’t too far off the progress she’s made each year she’s been here. But, in order for her to get there she’s going to have to be aggressive.”
Gaither competed for the Bahamas (she holds dual citizenship) at the Youth Olympic Games in Singapore last summer, placing second at 200 meters and winning the gold in a medley relay. She also represented the island nation at the Carifta Games last spring on Grand Cayman, where she was second in the 200 meters in the under-20 competition.
If Gaither wins one more state championship she will tie former OHS athlete Brett Williams for the most state championships won by an Osceola County High School athlete. Williams won five state titles in the shot put and discus for OHS in the 1990s.
She will join former OHS track teammate Marc Deas at Georgia. Deas signed a football scholarship with the Bulldogs in 2010.