Following significant strides in seventh and eighth grades racing against college and professional athletes, in addition to multiple Emerging Elite titles at Nike Outdoor Nationals, Kansas sprinter ready for next challenge in return to Oregon 

By Mary Albl of DyeStat

You would be hard-pressed to find a sprint race Aria Pearce wouldn’t embrace.

At age 14, Pearce has toed the line against competition from high school standouts to college athletes and even some professional performers, traveling from New York to California, seeking out the best of the best to race against.

There’s really not a race Pearce has turned down, including the opportunity to compete July 8-9 at the USATF U20 Championships at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore.

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“It’s a great source of competition,” Pearce said of the higher-level racing. “At my first college meet and even my first high school race, I remember being super nervous, but as it progressed, I did start to feel like I belonged there and I knew what I was doing, and I could compete really well against them.”

Pearce, an incoming ninth-grader in Saint George, Kansas, has garnered the reputation as the fastest middle schooler in the country, and with good reason.

Pearce boasts all-conditions personal bests of a wind-aided 11.50 seconds in the 100-meter dash and a wind-aided 23.79 in the 200, winning the historic Kansas Relays against an entire college field.

She’s coming off two first-place finishes at Nike Outdoor Nationals, and is set to race both the 100 and 200 in Eugene.

“My dad (Nathan) has told me you are there and you want to do good, but I definitely have to relax and focus on the experience,” Pearce said. “And see if I can get some PRs, especially against good competition.”

Growing up playing basketball, volleyball and flag football, Aria and her father Nathan Pearce, who serves as her coach, didn’t start to focus on her running, specifically sprinting – she also excels in the long jump – until just a few years ago.

The AAU Junior Olympic Games in Humble, Texas, was her first big impact competing in the 13-year-old age group, running 25.40 in the 200 and 12.36 in the 100, finishing in the top 10 in both events.

“We really figured out I had a thing for (sprinting) my sixth grade year, which was when my first AAU meet was,” Pearce said.

At the time, living in Sharon Springs, about 30 minutes from the Colorado border, Pearce’s training consisted of a dirt track or a nearby park sprinting on concrete or grass. Her dad got creative and ordered enough track material to lay down on the dirt for sprint workouts.

Toward the end of her seventh-grade basketball season, and looking to train and compete more, Pearce said that she and her dad started to branch out and see what races they could find. That’s when the door to high school and college races opened up.

In February 2022, she won the 200 (25.87) and ran 7.63 in the 60-meter dash to place second as one of the youngest in the field at the Let’s Get REAL Invitational in Colorado Springs.

Later that indoor season, she traveled to New Balance Nationals in New York and adidas Nationals in Virginia Beach, where she held her own against a field of high schoolers. In the spring, she entered the collegiate field in the 100 and 200 at the Stanford Invitational, where she ran sub-25 in the 200, placing 16th overall.

“I’ve been able to learn to block out that (my competition) they are older than me and just stay in my lane and race for myself and focus on the form and getting better and PRs,” Pearce said.

Pearce ended the 2022 outdoor season in June winning her first national titles, claiming the 100 (11.79) and 200 (24.40) championships in the Emerging Elite division at Nike Outdoor Nationals at Hayward Field.

Those times were already good enough for top 10 marks in Kansas prep history.

Last summer, the Pearce family also made the move to Saint George, located about 15 minutes from Manhattan. She attends Rock Creek Junior/Senior High, and trains with a collection of Manhattan and Rock Creek students, and has access to better training facilities year round, with her dad still leading Aria’s coaching.

“It's been a lot better now and we have so many options now for training,” Pearce said.

During the indoor and outdoor seasons this year, Pearce has continued to challenge her own limits. Running in Chicago, Oklahoma, California, New York, among other states, Pearce’s wind-aided performances of 11.50 in the 100 and 23.79 in the 200 at the Kansas Relays would’ve been recognized as the No. 2 all-conditions marks in Kansas prep history.

Pearce went on to win the 200 in a wind-aided 24.26 and finished second in the 100 in a wind-aided 11.66.

At Nike Outdoor Nationals, she defended her Emerging Elite titles, winning the 100 (11.76) and 200 (23.95). Her 200 time would have placed sixth in the high school championship field.

“At the KU Relays those were really big PRs for me but they weren’t wind legal, but then I got PRs (later) at NIke Nationals,” Pearce said. “As a sprinter, once you get to competing at a very high level, it’s very difficult to get PRs, even when you do get a small PR, it does feel like a big improvement.”

Pearce said her start out of the blocks, full arm swing and form have been the biggest areas of progress, as she’s been able to consistently run in the 11.7s and sub-24 on multiple occasions.

Nathan Pearce said Aria’s relentless desire to improve is also a driving factor.

“Anyone capable of competing at Aria's level was obviously born with elite sprinting ability, but what sets Aria apart from a lot of other kids her age is her commitment,” Nathan said. “I wouldn’t call it an obsession. In fact, Aria almost never talks about track outside of track meets and during practice. Her commitment to proper sleep, nutrition, and trusting the training process is what truly sets her apart. She is driven to do things the right way, because she wants to see the results, no matter how slow the process might be.

“I’ve never seen another person with the desire and commitment Aria has.”

As Pearce has progressed, she’s become more of a rising talent on a national level. Growing up in a media and technology focused era, she’s taken advantage of the Name, Image, and Likeness creating her own brand and YouTube Channel that highlights her unique track and field journey. While it’s a lot for a 14-year old, the spotlight is something Pearce has learned to embrace.

“I’ve gotten used to it, and I feel I don’t want to run for approval, but it’s always nice to have good comments, it’s really for fun for me, and I’ve gotten used to (the attention),” Pearce said.

While she’s become used to competing against older, more experienced athletes, she has a genuine love for the sport, and a bit of a fangirl, too.

“Allyson Felix for sure,” Pearce said of her favorite sprinter. “And Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone and Abby Steiner; I’ve been told I kind of run like her (Steiner).”

This week at U20s, the goals are the same for Pearce – one of two eighth-grade standouts scheduled to compete at the meet along with Olivia Harris from Buford, Ga. – and no matter who is in the lane next to her, she believes there is an opportunity to succeed.

“U20s for Aria is just another step in the world that she knows she wants to be a part of,” Nathan said. She has absolutely loved the college meets and elite high school meets she’s taken part in. She knows the next step is to get the experience of a meet like the U20s. She fully understands that she can’t go into a meet like that with any expectations other than to do her best and learn as much as she can.”