Tuesday, Jun. 30, 2009

State titles fuel Yoyo's dream; West sprinter is Class 3A track athlete of the year

BELLEVILLE -- It was four years ago when a bright and immensely talented sprinter entered Belleville West with dreams of winning state titles, earning an NCAA Division I scholarship and one day becoming one of the fastest women in the world.

Yolanda Suggs, simply known as Yoyo, achieved one of those goals during the 2009 track season when she won three individual state championships and helped the Maroons win the Class 3A team track title.

Now, with the continued help of her parents, LaGrant Suggs and Cherry Bell, Suggs has her sights on the other two.

"Her dream has always been to become the fastest woman in the world,'' LaGrant Suggs said. "I think she's now starting to realize what its going to take for her to achieve that goal."

In 2009, Yolanda Suggs was without question the fastest girl in the state as, on a hot and humid day in Charleston, she capped her dominating season by winning the Class 3A 100-, 200- and 400-meter state titles.

Suggs was also a member of the Maroons 4x100-meter state championship relay team and finishes her spectacular prep career with 13 state medals.

Suggs, winner of the News-Democrat Class 3A track athlete of the year, still has a hard time believing what she achieved.

"I saw myself winning a state title, but never like this,'' Suggs said. "Four in one year and then winning the state team title -- that was a bonus. No one means more than the other because they all felt good.''

Suggs had her share of success prior to the 2009 campaign. In both her sophomore and junior seasons, she earned medals in all three sprints -- the 100 , 200 and 400 meters.

But a state title still eluded her.

What put her over the top?

"My mom and dad,'' Suggs said. "I would cry on the podium at the state meet before and my mom said 'no more crying.' My dad was like, 'There is no coming back after this year, so you've got to do it now.'

"Head coach Paul James and assistants Mike Moore and (Sally) Stephens also were a big part of my success. I was a lot more mature. This year, I trained hard and I don't think I missed many days of practice.''

LaGrant Suggs, a former track and football standout at East St. Louis, made perhaps the biggest impact on his daughter's senior year.

Each morning, Yolanda Suggs would be up at 4 a.m. working out with her dad. She would then go to school and practice with the team then return to her dad's house for her third training session of the day.

"My dad was a little tougher than high school practice,'' Suggs said. "We would get up in the morning and do long runs, then after school we would lift weights or I would do speed drills. Stuff like that.

"The goal was to keep progressing as the season went on. It's not what you do at the beginning of the season, it's what you do at the end.''

When the postseason came around in May, Suggs was ready.

Suggs began the final day of the state meet by running on the Maroons 400-meter relay team, which won the race in 46.92 seconds.

"I was really confident that if we went out and ran the way we had the last couple of weeks that we had it in the bag,'' Suggs said. "It was a good way to start the day.''

Unfortunately, a good start wasn't in the cards for Suggs in the 100 meters as she found herself in third place with 15 meters left.

But Suggs wasn't about to lose the premier sprint event of the day as she rallied to win at the wire in a time of 12.06 seconds.

"I still have no idea how I won that race,'' Suggs said, smiling. "I kept thinking, I gotta get this, I gotta get this.

"If I had placed third like I did last year, I would have been so disappointed. I think I had the lean at the end. I don't know what I did different than everybody else. I didn't know I had won until one of the officials came over and told me.''

Wins in the 400 meters (55.01) and 200 meters (24.53) followed as Suggs assured herself a place as one of the state's best sprinters in history.

Suggs is competing with the St. Louis Blues Track Club this summer and accepted an offer from New Mexico Junior College in Albuquerque, which she will attend in the fall -- probably.

Suggs is still waiting to hear if she has a high enough score on the ACT test to attend a Division I school.

If she does, several Big Ten and Big 12 Conference schools have expressed interest in having Suggs compete in their programs.

"It (New Mexico JC) is a good school with a good track and field program,'' Suggs said. "I wasn't going to wait. I've taken the ACT test and if I get my score, then I'll go to a Division I school. This way I'm set either way.''