At the top of the hep

Kenwood's Kawanna Brooks could be the new face of Public League track.
(For STNG)

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Kawanna Brooks begins her senior year at Kenwood this week. She may be the new face of Public League track and field.

Is she ready for her shot at being a role model to her peers and to young girls who want to run track and maybe haven’t had someone to look up to since Alexandria Anderson graduated from Morgan Park three years ago?

She says bring it on.

Brooks won a bronze medal in the heptathlon — the women’s version of the decathlon, only with seven events instead of 10 — at the Junior Olympics on July 22-27 in Omaha, Neb. That medal came on the heels of her finishing second to Waubonsie Valley’s Shakeia Pinnick in the Illinois Prep Top Times Multi-Event State Championships at Bolingbrook in late May.

Moving up a level from intermediate to young women against 17- and 18-year olds, Brooks found herself in third place after each event in Omaha, and maintained her focus to stay there even after the grueling 800-meter run to close out the competition.

‘‘I’m going down there thinking it was going to be a harder level,’’ said Brooks, who picked up the heptathlon after her sophomore year. ‘‘I thought, ‘Man, I have to do exactly what I’m told.’ After every race, I kept my place and I knew I needed to keep my spot. At the end of the 800, I knew it was set in stone that I was in third.

‘‘I was so amazed. It was one of the happiest days of my life.’’

Brooks has stayed dedicated to running Public League track for three years, going on four. Despite the citywide problem of facilities that are few and far between, she is a defending city champion in the triple and long jumps and 400 relay and is a two-time state qualifier. A summer ago, she was sixth at the Junior Olympics in the heptathlon.

She also has benefitted somewhat from the burgeoning program called Friends of Track and Field (FOTF). Brooks’ Chicago Striders club coach, Craig Collins, is a founding member of FOTF, which has been in place for about a year. Its main mission is to help Public League track and field become the vibrant sport it once was in the city. Collins’ role is to get children interested in youth track programs.

‘‘There is more that can be done with Friends of Track and Field, especially in trying to hammer out its mission,’’ said Collins, who’s also the boys and girls track coach at North Lawndale. ‘‘Kawanna has benefitted because it provides outlets to get names out there. [FOTF] is helping, but there is a ways to go.’’

He’s hoping Brooks, with national experience, will play an important role.

‘‘Junior Olympics makes the state meet go more smoothly,’’ Collins said. ‘‘Having gone to nationals makes the state meet not as stressful. [State] is a big meet, but in the number of big meets that she’s come across, it’s an experience that isn’t uncommon for her.’’

Brooks said she already has had an impact on people she knows.

‘‘I actually had a few people come up to me when I wore my [Junior Olympics] medal one day,’’ she said. ‘‘This girl came up to me and asked about it and I said I finished third in the nation in the heptathlon. She said, ‘I want to do that.’ I said, ‘You can, as long as you stay dedicated.’’’

‘‘I think it sets a great example to have someone from Chicago go out there and do well. It makes young people want to do better.’’

One young person I wrote about in June reaped her rewards over the summer, too.

South Sider Nichyria Bird, 11, won a Youth Achievement ESPY Award in June. Fans were able to vote online, with the winner traveling to Los Angeles for the ESPYs in July.

Bird got involved in athletics through an organization called Girls on the Run, taking up running and becoming a leader for younger children in the group. That led to her ESPY nomination — and her first-ever plane trip to California.

Maybe she’ll be a future Kawanna Brooks.