Cellphones, manicures, shopping for clothes....
Ashley Henderson admits that all of those things were at the top of her list of things she liked to focus on when she was a young girl. Running? Well, it ranked up there with doing housework among the dislikes.
"I hated it," she said. "Every summer I used to give my mom excuses why I didn't want to do it. She wasn't buying it."
Henderson is very happy she didn't give it up now. She's now one of the top young sprinters in the St. Louis area. She likely will have a number of college recruiters courting her the next couple years.
"Now it is all paying off," said Henderson, who is competing this summer for the North County-based St. Louis Storm.
Indeed it is. Henderson had her high school coming out party a few weeks ago at the Class 4 State Track & Field Championships in Jefferson City. The Hazelwood Central freshman was expected to vie for some medals there, but she surprised some people by finishing third in both the 100- and 200-meter dashes.
Only veteran star runners Tianna Valentine, the Hazelwood East junior who took first in the 100 and second in the 200, and Nerinx Hall's Peyton Chaney, who was first in the 200 and second in the 100, finished ahead of the inexperienced Henderson.
Not bad considering Henderson didn't even run track last summer due to a hip injury.
"Overall, I thought I did very well for my first year at state," Henderson said. "I didn't expect to do that well. Third was fine with me. I know how good those girls are."
They're very good. Valentine is one of the best sprinters the state has ever produced. She ran a 11.58 in the 100 this year, which would have been a state record if she had run it in Jefferson City.
But Henderson's times at state - she ran personal records of 11.93 in the 100 and 24.64 in the 200 - were better than Valentine ran her sophomore year in Jefferson City. Valentine, who only ran on relays at state her freshman year, made the observation that Henderson was better than she was at that age to somebody and it was relayed to Henderson, which stunned her.
"When I first heard it I was in shock and I didn't believe the person," Henderson said.
Now, she is letting information like that motivate her. One of Valentine's main goals is to break the 100-meter overall state record of 11.66 held by world class sprinter Muna Lee. Henderson now has the same goal.
"I'm aiming for it," she said.
Hazelwood Central coach J.C. Kime likes her chances. He said "the sky's the limit" for Henderson.
"Her physical build is one of (her strengths)," he said. "Some people are built to be fast and she's one of them. She's tall and muscular and it's all fast-twitch fibers."
Henderson's mother, Angela Williams (nee McShan), who excelled as a sprinter back in the mid-90s at Riverview Gardens, had some tough times getting her daughter to track practices over the years but she's pleased she persisted.
"I'm very proud of her," Williams said. "I've been trying to tell her how wonderful it was that she made them steps and made it to state and placed. It's amazing. She's not quite getting it."
Kime felt the same way about Henderson for much of last season but he said she matured a lot at the end. She started working harder and asking lots of questions to try to improve down the stretch run.
"The big push is (catching) Tianna Valentine," said Kime. "She is fantastic. Tianna Valentine works her tail off. Ashley is seeing what that got her...all the accomplishments, newspaper articles and stuff. She's like, ‘I can beat her.' "
She's working toward that goal this summer. She was scheduled to run in the AAU National Qualifier this past weekend in Lawrence, Kansas, with some of her St. Louis Storm teammates. After that, she will likely be off to nationals which will be held in New Orleans July 30 through Aug. 6.
Kime said Hazelwood Central assistant coach Glen Norwood works with Henderson in the summer and is giving him glowing reports.
"I talked to him the other day and he said she's just doing fantastic," said Kime.
Henderson now appreciates all her mother did to keep her in the sport. She's the biggest positive influence in her life.
"She knows what I'm going through and how much she wants it for me," Henderson said. "She's always there every step of the way. I don't think there's been a track meet yet that she hasn't been to."
