WILLIAMSBURG, Va. — Everyone loves a good sibling rivalry.
“That’s one of the biggest motivations I have, is just always trying to be better than your sister," said Walsingham Academy track star Jeylah Hamrick.
Jeylah grew up watching her older sister Leyjah set record after record in track and field at Walsingham. Leyjah was also named the Most Valuable Runner at the VISAA state championships in 2019.
“I would always post on my story and be like, 'She did this, and she did that.' I was so proud of her,” Jeylah said.
And while the admiration was always there, Jeylah also made it her goal to surpass her sister, who went on to run at JMU.
“Yeah, surpassing her was pretty much the goal. My coach also coached her so each meet he would be like, 'Alright we gotta get another one, we gotta get another one.'”
And she did just that, setting new school records in the 100, 200, and 400 that her sister previously held.
But the job wasn’t done there.
“After I had broken them, it was just about beating myself and my own records then. I just always thought I was pretty average.”
She even took it a step further, adding hurdling and the long jump to her resume. She now owns the school record in the 100 hurdles, 300 hurdles, and the long jump. Jeylah also recently set a plethora of meet records at the TCIS Championships in May.
“I think that’s really important as an athlete. You don’t want to be a one-trick pony even though that’s great and you can be really great at one thing but why be good at one thing when you can do it all?" she joked. “But I always still get nervous, it's crippling."
There is no third Hamrick sister to catch Jeylah, so the records are safe in the Hamrick name for now. And although it’s no doubt a sibling rivalry, at the root of it all is one thing.
“It’s beautiful support. She’s the most supportive out of everybody and even though it's not her name up there it’s still a family name and that’s important. It was always because of her. I started it all because of her.”
