GREENSBORO, N.C. — College athletes across the country signed their National Letter of Intents, officially committing to play their sport at the colligate level. At a young age, Grimsley senior Makenna Barnett and her family knew her athleticism would take her far in life.
"At the age of four, my mom said you either go to practice with your brother, or you stay home and you go to sleep," said Makenna. "I'm like, what? I don't wanna go to sleep. So I went to practice and it just sparked from there. I've been running ever since and I just absolutely love it. I'm a competitor. That just sparked my uh competitiveness."
The Barnett family has made it a tradition to play a sport at the colligate level. Makenna's dad, Alonza Barnett Jr., is North Carolina A&T football Hall of Famer. Her brother, Alzona Barnett III, is the starting quarterback at James Madison University.
"I think she was three or four and she was navigating the uneven terrain without even thinking about it, said Alonza, "To be honest with you, I grew up in a household of four boys and when I saw her do that, I said to myself, wow, I didn't know girls could do that. I mean, she was, she was just gliding, she just always loved to go."
That passion to go allowed Makenna to become a worldwide name representing the United States at the ISF in Bahrain.
"This past summer in July, I won the Junior Olympics so I got selected to run and represent a AAU," said Makenna. "The flight over there was roughly about 13 hours. I got there three days before I competed, I went to the track every day, got a shake out until it was time to run."
After winning the 100 meter hurdles. Makenna got the call from a school she always dreamed of going to. After narrowing down her search to Arkansas, Kentucky and the University of Southern California, Makenna knew instantly she wanted to be a Trojan.
"My role model growing up was Allyson Felix, she also attended Southern California so this is like a big deal for me," said Makenna. "As soon as I got to Los Angeles, I knew that that was the place that I wanted to be. From the track to the pretty downtown. I absolutely love the coaching staff."
After putting pen to paper today, officially signing her National Letter of Intent, the Barnett family finally feels like that hard work has paid off.
"We've got some dark days," said Alonzo. "You're just so happy that all of the times of telling them trust the process, trust the process that is, is finally coming to fruition."
"As my dad would say, find something you love so much that you do it for free," said Makenna. "That's how I feel about track, even if I wasn't getting paid, I'd still wanna run track."