Not many cities across this country can say their home to an Olympic gold medalist in the 100-meter dash.
Pensacola can, with Woodham graduate Justin Gatlin leading the way for track and field, the next sport on our list of USA TODAY’s companywide 250 for 250 series.
As the United States approaches its 250th anniversary, USA TODAY Sports will celebrate the 250 greatest American sports figures of all time. Alongside that national recognition, the USA TODAY Network will spotlight the roots of the country’s sports culture: the high school athletes and sports figures who shaped communities and defined their states and regions.
Over the next coming months, we’ll honor some of the top athletes in Pensacola area history.
Gatlin is the highlight for Escambia and Santa Rosa County, which has produced numerous state champions, including a couple who brought home multiple gold medals during their high school careers.
The Pace boys brought home Santa Rosa County’s lone track and field state title by winning the 2A crown 1981, while Escambia County has won five state titles. The Booker T. Washington boys won the county’s first state title with the 4A crown in 1988, while the Pensacola Catholic girls won their lone state title in 2A in 1997.
Gatlin helped the Woodham boys win the 3A state title in 2000, while the Pine Forest girls won back-to-back 3A titles in 2010 and 2011.
Think we missed anyone? Email JFitzgerald@gannett.com to let us know who should have been included.
Charita Bonner, Century
Bonner won three straight Class A shot put state titles from 1992-94 and also won back-to-back discus state titles in 1993-94. She was also a standout basketball player for Century.
Paul Bryan, Woodham/Pine Forest/Tate
Wherever Bryan goes success follows. In a career that’s lasted decades, Bryan led the Pine Forest girls to back-to-back state titles in 2010 and 2011, but has also won eight regional titles, 21 district titles and coached 24 state champions.
Even after taking over at Tate this year, he led the Aggies girls program to a district championship.
Bryan’s been named the Florida Dairy Farmers Girls 3A Coach of the Year three times and the PNJ Track and Field Coach of the Year 14 times.
Brandon Carey, Gulf Breeze
Carey is just one of seven athletes in FHSAA history to win three shot put state titles, as he was the top thrower in 2A from 2000-02. He’s the only local male track and field athlete to win three straight state titles in a single event. Carey competed collegiately at the University of South Florida from 2002-06.
Justin Gatlin, Woodham
Gatlin’s rise to becoming the 2004 Olympic gold medalist in the 100-meter dash started at Woodham. He won five state titles, sweeping the 3A 110-meter and 300-meter hurdles in 1999 and 2000 and won the 3A 100 meters in 2000. His 2000 performance is the only time a local athlete has won three events at a track and field state championship.
Gatlin won the 100 and 200 meters as a freshman at the University of Tennessee in 2001 before turning professional. He represented Team USA at the 2004, 2012 and 2016 Summer Olympics, winning five medals. Gatlin also won 10 World Championship medals, including golds in the 100 and 200 meters in 2005, the 100 meters in 2017 and the 4×100 meter relay in 2019.
He was inducted into the Pensacola Sports Hall of Fame in February.
Shameika Johnson, Woodham
Johnson is a four-time hurdles state champion, winning three straight in the 3A 300-meter hurdles from 1998-2000 and adding another title in the 3A 110-meter hurdles in 1999. Johnson, along with Justin Gatlin, helped Woodham sweep hurdles titles at the 3A boys and girls state championship in 1999.
Darroneshia Lott, Pine Forest
Lott found success at both the high school and college level. She won three straight 3A 800 meter titles at Pine Forest from 2011-13, helping the Eagles win the 2011 state championship.
She then competed at South Plains College from 2013-15, where she was a six-time national champion, including in the indoor 1,000 meters, 3,000 meters and mile. She then transferred to Coker University, where she competed from 2015-17 and was a two-time NCAA Division II All-American.
Daniel Soule, Pensacola Catholic
Soule pulled off a rare sweep of both the 800 and 1600 meters in 2000-01. In 2000 he ran a 1:57.16 800 and a 4:19.27 1600 to win the 2A state title in both events, then whittled those times down to 1:54.36 and 4:17.30 to win both again in 2001.
Soule later competed for the University of Georgia, where he still ranked as the 10th fastest performer in the 800 meters in school history as of Oct. 2022.
Danielle Williams, Pensacola
Williams was a three-time 2A high jump state champion from 2006-08, tying for the top mark across all classifications at the state championships in 2006 (5-6) and 2008 (5-8).
She competed at Florida State from 2009-12, finishing eighth in the high jump at the 2011 ACC Indoor Championship and sixth at the 2011 ACC Outdoor championship.
This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Meet the Pensacola area track and field stars who made history
Reporting by Justin Fitzgerald, Pensacola News Journal / Pensacola News Journal
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