TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) — Florida High senior Jhordyn Stallworth has forever left her mark on Leon County track throwing events, but she set her sights much farther than that.
Making the decision to become throw shot-put or discus is a conscious one, but it's one Jhordyn Stallworth kind of fell in to.
"My sister did it," said Stallworth. "She graduated from here in 2013, while she was in high school, and I was in Middle School, I'd come out here and sit on the bleachers and watch after school."
Watching turned to doing, which slowly turned into winning.
"She started throwing with me here at Florida High in middle school," said April McGriff, the head track coach. "And to see her mature over time has really been worthwhile."
"You put all the pent up aggression, all the explosiveness into a throw," Stallworth said. "It's gratifying when do it, and you throw it, and you see it soaring through the air, it's like, 'yeah, I did that!'"
She's done that, and has the medals and record distances to her name.
Gold in shot-put at State, silver in discus, a scholarship to Mississippi State, and all while maintaining a 4.3 GPA.
"She is truly the definition of a student athlete," McGriff said. "She mentors her younger athletes in throws along with some of the middle school athletes that's here as well. They look up to her on and off the field."
"Someone has to step up, whether it's me or my other captains," Stallworth said. "We have to be the person that we want them to be when they get older. We have to leave this program in good hands."
She wouldn't want to leave Florida High any other way.
"I found something I like and came into my own and excelled at it. I feel like I've come full circle I guess."
Full circle, that started with a sport, she fell into.
Stallworth is also dual enrolled at Tallahassee Community College. She said she'll hopefully be a sophomore when she gets to Starkville.
As far as career goals? Something in sports.
