12 Year Old Track Star Races Towards Her Purpose With Confidence and Ease
I stood at the corner of 34th street and 7th avenue and kept my eyes peeled to Nike’s digital billboard. I came straight from the Nike Indoor Nationals track meet, where junior olympian and world record holder Melanie Doggett competed in the 60m and 200m races in the middle school girls age group. Nationally ranked high school track and field athletes graced the screen, and then appeared a young girl with chocolate skin and a black Nike t-shirt. Her hands are placed on her hips, showing off her baby blue and white nails to represent Major Impact Track Club. Her natural hair in twists, in a half up-half down style, and her eyes pierce through the photo. Melanie has been on her first New York City billboard, an illustration of what many in her life consider God’s plan, and she’s only twelve.
Melanie Doggett featured on Nike’s billboard during the weekend of the Nike Indoor Nationals meet in New York, NY. March, 2023.
“Melanie entered this world like she runs on the track: fast,” says her mother, Melissa. She gave birth to Melanie three weeks early, with less than an hour spent in labor the night of the 2011 NBA Finals. Sixteen weeks into her pregnancy with Melanie, however, Melissa and her husband Brandon were given the option to abort Melanie. Melissa’s elevated blood levels indicated a slight risk of Melanie having a birth defect. Neither Melissa nor Brandon have strong views on abortion, but their faith informed them that Melanie would be a blessing regardless of how she came out. “God gave me comfort that everything was gonna be well, so I didn’t worry, because, you know, [Melanie’s] measurements were normal. It seemed to look okay, so I was good,” Melissa continues.
Both former athletes, Melissa and Brandon started paying attention to Melanie’s natural gift to run when Melanie was four years old. She and her older brother, Bryson, would race after Bryson would come home from school. “We would stand at the bus stop and [Bryson] gets off the bus and he would take off and just run, and she would be right there with him. And, you know, at four and six, that’s a big age difference. But he could never shake her,” says Melissa, still amazed by her daughter’s budding capabilities. Soon enough, Melanie was outrunning kids twice her age near that bus stop for fun. Melissa and Brandon locked in on this and found Melanie a club to run with once she was old enough to.
Melissa and Brandon want the best opportunities for their children and it serves as their guide when seeking out resources. “We’re very particular about where we go,” says Brandon. He inquired about training with Samantha Gary (Coach Sam), who happens to be his friend’s wife. Coach Sam and her twin sister, Candida Francois (Coach Candi), co-run Major Impact Track Club from two different locations: Georgia and Texas. The bonafide track stars started their club in 2004 with the goal of helping their athletes make their dreams come true, with 100% of their athletes moving on to run track at the collegiate level.
“There's no price on this, it literally and honestly, it is the best feeling. It is so much more rewarding when you're living in your purpose. And you see so many kids' lives change,” says Coach Sam.
Melanie impressed Coach Sam from the moment they met at a track meet in Birmingham, AL in 2019. “I was like, ‘you're gonna be legit one day,’ and she's like, ‘You really think I'm gonna be legit one day,’ I was like, ‘ Yeah, you're gonna be legit one day,’” says Coach Sam. Within months of working with Coach Sam, Melanie went on to win a national title.
Nike reached out to Coach Candi to feature some of her high school national title holders on the billboard. Figuring they weren’t thinking to consider middle schoolers, Coach Candi mentioned Melanie’s name. She let Nike know that Melanie holds the world record for her age group in the 60m dash, which she broke at the Bama Showcase in Birmingham, AL in January of this year. Within 48 hours, Nike called back and asked that Melanie be a part of the shoot for the billboard. (Melanie also broke the 100m dash world record in the National Elite High School Division at the Adidas Outdoor Nationals in Greensboro, North Carolina in June of this year. She finished with an 11.67.)
Melanie was the only 6th grader competing in the middle school girls 60m dash during the Nike Indoor Nationals. She soared in her preliminary heat, with her baby blue uniform leading the pack seconds after the starting shot gun went off. She finished in first with a time of 7.68 seconds, breaking the meet record for this race and automatically qualifying for the 60m finals. She went on to secure another first place victory in the 60m final, breaking the meet record again with a time of 7.66 seconds. “I feel good, I feel fine about it. I don’t really care,” Melanie said of her performance, followed by a shy chuckle. Breaking records and billboard features don’t seem to phase Melanie. In fact, the only thing that seems to phase her is her younger sister Morgan.
“If Melanie were to go back in time and race me if we were the same age, I would have beat her, not by a landslide we would have been neck and neck,” says junior olympian, Morgan. At ten years old, Morgan is pedigreed in her own right. She competed in the USATF Nationals the weekend after the Nike Indoor Nationals meet, where she came in first in three of her races and broke personal records in five of the six she raced in. They see each other as each other’s biggest competition. “If we were in the same race, like in the 60 together, I would dust her,” says Melanie. This healthy competition pushes them to be better than their best.
The girls’ faith also fuels them. Both girls pray before and after our races, and understand that His strength carries them through and protects them as they compete.
“Why are you crying,” Melanie asks her mom as we’re talking in the press room after Melanie’s final race.
“I am about to cry because it was like okay, you get it like He is in everything and that's the goal right? We just need to make sure that their foundation is there,” Melissa responds.
Melissa and Brandon travel an hour from Atlanta to Alpharetta, GA to take Melanie and Morgan to practice two to three times a week, where they sit and wait with them for each practice. They also invest $6,500 a year into their early track careers. The Doggett’s faith and family unit empowers the young runners to go out and be great, and they’re only just getting started.
“Me and my wife used to race people all the time. We can run fast but, neither one of us ran track. And these girls just found their home on the track, it’s pretty cool,” says Brandon.
