Young sprinter sets world record
Fred Jeter | 7/13/2023, 6 p.m.
Melanie Doggett is a young girl who is going places – fast!
The 12-year-old, rising seventh-grader at Landmark Christian School near Atlanta has set the world record in the 100-meter dash for her age group.
Competing in the Adidas Outdoor Nationals last month in Greensboro, N.C., she ran a sizzling, wind-legal 11.67.
That broke the old age 12 mark of 11.75 set by Payton Payne in 2018. It also broke the world sixth-grade record of 11.77 set by Tamari Davis (now pro) eight years ago.
Doggett was considered a sixth-grader at the time of the race at the Adidas meet at North Carolina A&T.
To put Doggett’s time into perspective, she would have been faster than any of the six champions this past spring in the Virginia High School League State meets.
The fastest of Virginia’s six winners was Indian River’s Brianna Selby, who won Class 5 in 11.81. Other winning times in Virginia were 11.89, 12.07, 12.13, 12.55, 12.82.
This past winter, Doggett also set an age group world record for 60 meters when she won the Bama Showcase in Birmingham in 7.74. The previous record was 7.81.
