Delila Gooden had never participated in a sport until one of her teachers at Detroit Osborn approached her about coming out to cross country practice during her sophomore year.
Intrigued, Gooden added the cross country tryout to her full plate of school-related activities that include being a part of the student council, Obsorn’s student leadership committee and Detroit School District’s DECA program, which prepares students for life in various forms of business-related fields.
“I was already good at long-distance stuff because of cross country, so why not track?” Gooden said at a DPS Gold league meet on April 30 at East English Village.
After trying out on a whim, Gooden has become an indispensable part of Osborn’s running program as the Knights work to build the program. Gooden is already a school-record holder in the 800 meters and has become a vocal leader for her classmates who are new to running.
Gooden won three individual events during the Detroit Public School League Gold Division championship meet on Thursday, May 7, in the 800, 1,600 and 3,200 races.
“She’s just a really determined kid,” Osborn track coach Matthew Eichstaedt said. “We usually have a tough time getting kids to come out for cross country. And she was like, ‘No, I want to try this.’ She told me she had never done a sport before, and then she goes out there and is a workhorse. She’s really determined to get better each day.”
As a new teacher and coach at Osborn, Eichstaedt started recruiting kids from the hallways for cross country and track. Intrigued, Gooden decided to come try out for a cross-country practice on a Friday.
On Fridays, Osborn runners run one mile to a nearby Wendy’s, where Eichstaedt treats them with Frosties at the end of the week. On the Friday Gooden came, she was one of the only people at practice and rain was pouring. But she still ran that mile there and back in her tryout.
The one-on-one time made Eichstaedt realize that Gooden had the potential to be a strong leader and athlete.
“That was a really great conversation,” Eichstaedt said of the tryout. “Getting to know her a little bit, I am blessed to have her as an athlete and a student.”
Since that first run in the rain, Gooden has been a cornerstone for an Osborn running program looking to grow. When Eichstaedt first started, Osborn had four kids running cross country and three running track. This spring, Osborn has 15 kids participating in track.
Gooden has played a hand in helping that growth. Not only did she join the team herself, but she is helping coach up her peers after picking up the tricks of the trade quickly.
“Not only is she doing her own thing in races and excelling, but she’s also became a leader,” Eichstaedt said. “I’ve seen her blossom. When you first meet her, she comes off as a quiet kid, and then she shows she’s got a skill for leading people.”
Gooden will help push teammates by joining them for the final stretches of their runs, leading stretching before practices and meets and making sure no one is slacking.
“I don’t know what she says in between them when they’re running together on the track, but I know she gets them to finish,” Osborn sprint and hurdles coach Aniya Myers said.
Personally, Gooden has already hit her first goal of breaking the school record in the 800m. Now, she has her eyes set on reaching the state title meet.
“I was happy about it,” Gooden said. “My coach believed that I could. He told me this week that I was going to break the school record.”
Gooden has had plenty of opportunities to develop as a leader during high school. Along with being a captain, Gooden is a part of student leadership and student government at Osborn, along with participating in the school district’s DECA program.
“All of them are basically leadership clubs, so I’m working my way up and working on it,” Gooden said. “… Sometimes [my teammates] get mad, but during events, they are always doing what they are supposed to do.”
Gooden juggled everything on her plate for the end of her sophomore year and beginning of her junior year while traveling to and from Oak Park daily. Her family had to temporarily move because of a loss of income, forcing Gooden to rely on rides from others following her after-school activities.
Gooden and her family moved back to Detroit this school year, giving her more flexibility to manage her responsibilities in sports and clubs.
“It was hard to maintain the time management. You’ve got to be at school at a certain time and be home by a certain time,” Gooden said. “I made sure to focus on stuff day by day, and I had a lot of support.”
Time management is still the main focus for Gooden to handle all of her responsibilities. For example, a day before the league meet at East English Village, Gooden was in Atlanta with Detroit DECA and quickly had to readjust to school and track.
In her mind, they are all just tasks that must be completed as Gooden works toward her goals of reaching the track state meet, attending an HBCU (her eyes are on Howard) and becoming a couples therapist once she’s done with school.
With her leadership development, Gooden has found her right track, which includes the track.
“They look up to her and listen to her,” Myers said. “For my freshman, she is an inspiration to come out here and win medals. That is all of their goals. So they see the work she puts in.”
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Jared Ramsey covers high school sports for the Detroit Free Press. Contact him at jramsey@freepress.com.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Osborn’s Delila Gooden setting standard, records on the track
Reporting by Jared Ramsey, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
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