Courtesy of North Carolina A&T State Athletic Communications
GREENSBORO, N.C. – North Carolina A&T State women's track & field, a program that has won four straight Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) indoor track & field titles and two out of the last three MEAC outdoor titles, just added 15 athletes.
The Aggies landed 11 outstanding high school athletes and three transfers. The four prep starts headed to Aggieland next season are Jonah Ross (Garner, N.C., Garner High School), Shaliciah Jones (North St. Paul, Minn., North Saint Paul HS), MyKayla Perry (Philadelphia, Pa., Neumann Goretti HS), Jade King (Rockledge, Fla., Rockledge HS), Carolyn Brown (Orlando, Fla., Boone HS), Jayla Jones (Oak Park, Mich., Oak Park HS), Nia Frederick (Potomac, Md., Bullis HS), Ania Campbell (Bronx, NY, DeWitt Clinton HS), Camille Herring (Charlotte, N.C., Phillip O. Berry Academy), Asha Taitt (Fulton, Md., Reservoir HS) and Imani Dupree (Sacramento, Calif., Sheldon HS).
The four transfers are Symone Darius (New Rochelle, N.Y., New Rochelle HS, University of Alabama), Ayoola Gbolade (Miami, Fla., Miami Northwestern HS, University of Connecticut), Sydni Townsend (Philadelphia, Pa., Neumann Goretti HS, University of Pittsburgh) and Breanne Bygrave (Raleigh, N.C., Wakefield HS, University of Pennsylvania).
Ross' addition makes her the third Ross in the N.C. A&T program. Ross' father, Duane, is the Aggies director of track and field programs and one of the best collegiate coaches in the country. Her brother, Randolph, was a freshman last season for the men's program and had the fastest indoor 400-meter time in the world.
Jonah Ross has some impressive accolades of her own. She is a five-time North Carolina High School Athletic Association (NCHSAA) champion with wins in the 55 and 100 meters in 2018 and wins in the 55, 100 and 200 meters in 2019. As a junior, she ranked in the top-25 in the nation in four different events (55m, 60m, 200m and 300m).
Ranked fifth in the nation in the 300 meters as a junior and sixth as a senior, she was a bronze medalist at the 2019 New Balance Indoor High School National Championships by running a personal-record 23.79 in the 200 meters. At the New Balance Outdoor Nationals at N.C. A&T's Irwin Belk Track in 2018, she was the "Emerging Elite" 100 and 200m champion. She was also the 100m runner-up at the USATF Outdoor Championships in the 15-16-year old division.
Shaliciah Jones is a nine-time USATF Minnesota Association state champion. She was a four-time 100m champion, a four-time 200-meter champion (three outdoor, one indoor) and she won the 60m in 2019.
Perry won the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association (PIAA) outdoor state title in the 200 and 400 meters as a junior. She won the PIAA indoor title in the 400 meters as a junior. She was one of the best 400-meter runners in the nation as a prep standout.
King finished second in the long jump at the 2019 AAU Region Qualifier as she earned a spot in the AAU National Junior Olympics Track and Field Championships.
Brown won the District 4 at the FHSAA Class 4A outdoor track and field championship in the 400 meters. Jayla Jones won the 800 meters at the 2019 Michigan High School Athletic Association (MHSAA) LP Regional.
Frederick is a four-time New Balance Nations All-American. Campbell is a two-time 600-meter New York state qualifier. She won the 3,000 meters at the 2020 Bronx Borough Championships. She will likely also run cross country.
Herring may also run cross country. She is a member of two second-place relay teams. In 2019, her 4x800 and 4x400 teams won silver at the NCHSAA Class 4A championships at N.C. A&T's Irwin Belk Track.
Tait won the long jump at the Maryland's 3-A East Regional Outdoor Track and Field Championships in 2017. In 2019, she was the runner-up in the long jump at Maryland's 3-A East Regional outdoor championships.
Dupree was a third-place finisher in the "Emerging Elite" in the 100 and 200 meters at the 2018 New Balance Outdoor Nationals. She also won the 60 and 200 meters at the Nike Boise indoor meet. At two high-profile meets – the Golden West Invitational and the Arcadia High Invitational – she won the 100 meters.
Darius was very accomplished at Alabama. She was a three-time first-team All-American for the Crimson Tide in the 4x100-meter relay twice and the 4x400. She qualified for the NCAA Division I East Preliminary Round 10 times and she qualified for NCAA nationals five times. She and her teammates have run a sub 3 ½ minute 4x400.
Gbolade comes to N.C. A&T via UConn. In 2019, she and her 4x400 teammates won the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) championship. In high school, she finished second in the 800 meters in the Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) in 2018. She also finished second at the FHSAA 3-A Region-4 outdoor championships in the 800. In high school, she won the Pennsylvania state championship in the 300-meter hurdles in 2018.
Townsend is the younger sister of Todd Townsend, a N.C. A&T track and field alum who won three individual MEAC titles during his career (2013-18). She earned second-team All-American honors at Pittsburgh in the 400-meter hurdles.
Bygrave is a graduate student out of Penn. She comes to N.C. A&T after finishing sixth in the 60-meter hurdles at the 2020 Ivy League Heptagonal Championships. Bygrave had a third-place finish in the 400-meter hurdles at the 2018 Ivy League championships. In 2017, she was a third-place finisher at the Ivy League outdoor championships. As a high school standout, she won the NCHSAA Class 4A state title in the 100-meter hurdles in 2016.
That same year, she won the 55-meter hurdles in North Carolina.
Duane Ross will return a powerhouse because the Aggies will get their senior class back because the COVID-19 pandemic canceled the outdoor season. Only three of Ross' seniors from the 2020 outdoor season – Taliyah Townsend, Sun-Sara Williams and Jayne Roberts – have not committed to returning.
"I'm extremely excited about this upcoming season," Ross said. "The experience of our returners combined with the talent of this incoming class will make for a very interesting and competitive NCAA championship."