By Matthew Peaslee
MORGANTOWN — Many Americans are anticipating the Olympics, beginning this month in Tokyo, Japan. It’s this special time, every two and four years, where people can learn the names and faces of some world-class athletes who are not normally in the spotlight.
When it comes to track and field stars, 13-year-old Elecia McCurrie already knows them all.
“She studies the athletes and watches their form,” Elecia’s father, Errol McCurrie, said. “She learns about the athletes and wants to know where they went to college and what they did to be able to compete at a high level. She visualizes herself doing that someday.”
Elecia is already making a name for herself on the junior circuit. The rising eighth-grader at Mountaineer Middle wrapped up a sparkling spring season, setting and breaking local meet records as a seventh-grader.
Elecia earned the West Virginia State Middle School championship in three events and was the high-point award winner in the meet held at Bridgeport High.
Her personal best in the 100-meter dash is 12.56.
“Being able to execute everything in a short distance is really hard to do,” Elecia said. “If you’re able to execute it and go forward, all out in that short distance of 100 meters then you are very talented.”
Her personal best in the 200-meter dash is 26.12.
“I did break records in my individual events in my first meet of the year, but I wanted to go even faster,” Elecia said. “I just grew from that meet to the next meet, to the meet after that to get to where I wanted to be — and where I knew I should be.”
Her personal best in the 400-meter run is 1:00.73.
“I always PR in it but it might actually be my least favorite event,” she said. “That is my best race, honestly. I run it all out all the time. All out all the way.”
There’s no offseason for Elecia and the McCurrie family. They will hit the road this summer for national AAU and USATF meets. She’s been competing in national Junior Olympics meets since she was 7.
“The first time she competed in the Junior Olympics, she came in fourth in the country,” Elecia’s mother, Bianca, said. “The second time she came in third in the country. The last time she had an injury she hurt her Psoas Muscle. She was 11 years old and was having a phenomenal season, winning every race, but then she hurt her Psoas Muscle.”
Fighting through the lower lumbar pain in that 2019 Junior Olympics meet, she still placed seventh in the country.
“She went out there and ran with one leg basically,” Bianca said. “We always look back on that as a motivation, too, because you never know what’s going to happen running track.
“Now, every time she steps on the track she’s so determined to do her very best. She runs like every race could be her last.”
Elecia grew up in the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia and has spent half the year in Florida to take advantage of the year-round warm temperatures to train more extensively. She’s been homeschooled most of her life and just entered junior high when the family moved to Morgantown.
“Her transition from being homeschooled went really well,” Bianca said. “The curriculum was a little different but once she got used to her new schedule, she hit the ground rolling. She was very excited about going back to school. Being a teenager and having friends was so important to her. She loved every bit of it.”
Elecia says her favorite subject is social studies and she is a straight-A student. Elecia knew she was fast from a young age — especially when she started playing T-ball not long after she learned how to walk.
“I would run so fast to each base that I would catch the people in front of me before they got to the next base,” Elecia said.
Her father, who grew up playing baseball, basketball, football and wrestling, has been her main coach since he recognized her natural talent. Errol focuses on building her strength and stamina while reminding her to do the little things — like stretching — to prevent injuries.
“The will that she has and the love that she has for the sport, nothing will hold her back,” Errol said. “She sees a track and something inside her says, ‘I need to get on it.’ She’s almost breaking high school records in middle school. It’s crazy. She has goals to break the records, and I know she can do it. It’s my job to keep her focused and keep her in good shape and healthy.”
Bianca’s job is to scout out the meets, keep everyone grounded and “do the paperwork.”
“It’s truly a family effort,” Bianca said.
On top of traveling throughout the country for national meets, the family usually makes a yearly pilgrimage to Oregon to watch professional meets.
Elecia has pictures with legendary runners such as Carl Lewis, Keni Harrison and Tyson Gay. She’s becoming somewhat of a youth legend herself with more than 4,000 followers on her personal Instagram page and hundreds of views of her performances on YouTube.
“I’m really proud of what I’ve accomplished in the past but I’m even more excited about what I can accomplish in the future,” Elecia said. “I have big dreams and big goals and I know I need to put the work in to accomplish that all someday.”
A first-place finish at the national Junior Olympics meet in Jacksonville, Florida, and a top spot at the AAU meet in Houston, Texas, are the immediate goals. Breaking high school records as an eighth-grader in 2022 is a little further down the pike.
Qualifying for the Summer Olympics by 2028? With Elecia’s drive and desire, truly anything is possible.
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