WS Chronicle

Photo by Mary Ann Magnant

BY TIMOTHY RAMSEY 

THE CHRONICLE

As a youth, Parkland High School junior Joseph Littlejohn says he used to get into a little bit of trouble from time to time. He says his father introduced him to the sport of track and field to find another outlet for him to release his energy in a constructive manner.

He says he immediately was drawn to the sport once he first stepped foot on the track.  His favorite events on the track are the 100 and 200 meter dash.

Littlejohn is a very unique runner as he has tremendous range in the length of races he is able to compete in.  He has run the 100, 200 and 400 meter dash along with the 4×100, 4×200 and 4×400 meter relay races.  He has even long jumped in a previous meet. Littlejohn started his high school career at Winston-Salem Preparatory Academy but transferred to Parkland in 2016.  He says he was somewhat a big fish in a small pond because of the smaller size of the Phoenix team.  He thinks with the added competition on the Mustang team ignore  it has allowed him to get better as a runner.

“It’s a different atmosphere when you come over here [Parkland],” Littlejohn said.  “As soon as I got here, everyone here welcomed me with open arms.  Over here it is more competitive and you have more people to push you.

Littlejohn said. “They saw what was in me before I even knew what was in me.  They have helped me drop all of my times on the track and I thank them for that.  They have been pushing me hard so as the season goes on, I can drop my time some more.”

Littlejohn is a good student in the classroom as well.  He says his favorite subject  is math.  Outside of becoming a track and field professional, he says he would love to become a veterinarian because of his self-proclaimed love for animals.  He says if given a choice, he would like to attend either North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University or University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

David Lindsay, Parkland assistant track and field coach, coached Littlejohn at Winston-Salem Prep and says the transition from Prep to Parkland was a very good one for Littlejohn because of the rise in competition.

“At Prep he was ‘the guy’ we had on the team,” he said.  “He is a great athlete and a hard worker.  He does everything that you ask him to do.  He is a great kid to coach and just a stand up guy.

“As far as foot speed, he is probably our quickest guy when it comes to that,” Lindsay continued.  “There are a few things technically that are holding him back right now and he needs to work on his strength as well.  The sky is the limit for him and we understand that he will go through some growing pains as he transferred from a different program.”

Lindsay said Littlejohn has the range to run the 100, 200 and 400 but is probably best suited for the 100 and 200.

“He is the type of kid that is going to run every race as hard as he can,” Lindsay went on to say about Littlejohn’s effort. “Every time he steps off the track, there will never be a question on whether he did everything he could to win the race or the relay.”

Lindsay says that Littlejohn has a very high upside as a track and field athlete.  He says if Littlejohn goes to the correct collegiate program, there is potential there for him to become an All-American some day.