It wasn't until finally, after several failed attempts at getting her daughter to stay with track and field, that the rest of the state got to see how special.
"I signed her up for summer track both before her seventh- and eighth-grade years and she just didn't like it," McCorkle said. "Finally she stayed with it and started having success. I always knew she had the ability to be a great athlete. Ronecia had the talent, she had the intelligence and she had the desire to be the best."
And for the past two years, Nash has been the best sprinter not only in the state, but one of the nation's best.
After winning the Class AA 100- and 200-meter state championships as a junior, Nash went one better in the 2008 state finals last month in Charleston as she successfully defended both titles and added a championship in the 100 high hurdles.
Nash also was on the Flyerettes state champion 400 relay, as she helped lead the East St. Louis thinclads to its first girls team state title.
That performance, which has earned her News-Democrat Class AA Girls Track and Field Athlete of the Year honors, also has earned her comparisons to a young Jackie Joyner-Kersee.
Nash, showing her usual class and poise, seems humbled by the comparison to her fellow East St. Louis native.
"I don't think it's really dawned on me yet that people mention me with someone like JJK," Nash said. "I'm really excited about that though, because I never thought in a million years that I would be compared to her."
Nash was in a league of her own at this year's state finals.
The senior won the 100 hurdles (14.16 seconds) and the 100 (11.88) in a 10-minute time span, then came back to later to dominate the field in what many feel is her best event -- the 200 --finishing in 23.86.
Nash said she didn't feel any pressure to repeat in the 100 and 200.
"I really didn't. I knew since I won them both last year that people were expecting me to win," "All I could do was my best and I did."
If there was a surprise it came in the 100 hurdles, an event Nash ran as a sophomore but not as a junior.
"I was a little nervous at first, but then I thought, well, maybe there's a reason for me to run the 100 hurdles," Nash said. "I was so happy when I won the final at state. It's not that I didn't think that I could, it's just that I was surprised when I did.
"That title meant a lot because we had worked so hard all year."
Nash now likes the event.
"I probably like it more then the 100 meters now. It's a challenge and I like being challenged," Nash said. "It's an event where you have to concentrate on what you're doing at all times, because if your steps are off, you're not going to do well."
Concentrating isn't a problem for Nash, who completed her senior year at East St. Louis with a 3.9 GPA.
She will now turn her attention to getting ready for her freshman year at UCLA, which begins in September.
Nash is pretty certain she will continue to run the 200, along with maybe the 100 and 110 hurdles. She may even add the 400.
She said she wouldn't be opposed to also trying the heptathlon.
"It's something I think I'd like to try," Nash said. "I've got the events down, all except the high jump."
Her ultimate goals are to win an NCAA Division I championship and compete in the Olympics.
"My goals are to win the 200 meters and also maybe the 110 meter hurdles at the NCAA national finals," Nash said. "Maybe the 100 as well.
"And the ultimate goal is to reach the Olympics. I'm pointing toward 2012 as my best shot."
Contact reporter Dean Criddle at 239-2665 or dcriddle@bnd.com.
