Melissa Jefferson burst onto the sprinting scene with the U.S. 100 meter title in June. The 21-year-old had an amazing 2022 season as she ran in 49 races, including a win in the NCAA 60m Indoor Championship and finishing with a Gold Medal at the 2022 World Championships in the 4x100m relay.
Jefferson represents Nike as she begins her first professional season. The reigning U.S. 100m Champion is still attending Coastal Carolina to study Public Health while she adjusts to the rigors of being a pro athlete.
2022 Season in Recap
With 49 races, both indoor and outdoor, Melissa has plenty of opportunities to reflect on her top moments from the 2022 season.
“For me, the highlight of my season wasn’t even the race that I won at Indoor Nationals. It was actually the prelim race. That was the highlight, because I think it kind of gave me a sense of, ‘Hey, you’re supposed to be here.’ So now after that race was over, I was like, ‘Well you know, the hard part is over.’ The hard part for me was making it to the final. And so once I was able to do that, I felt like this is a race I will forever cherish, because I had a realization within myself of who I am, what I’ve been working so hard for and pray for, and what I’m capable of doing.”
“I think the next race that probably stuck out to me was USA Nationals. When I won the 100 meters, that was another that one was another kind of realization for me and just reassuring myself like, ‘Hey, on this road, like you know, everything’s not going to go as planned.’ But if you can keep your composure while things aren’t going that well then when the time comes for everything to come together, it’ll be that much better for you, or it’ll feel that much better. When you know you’ve overcome your hardships to get there.”
“And then my last highlight of the year as far as races would probably be in the relay (4x100m at the 2022 World Championships). It had a lot to do with the fact that we won, but it also had a lot to do with the fact that, once again, everybody had a lot of opinions about who would win the race and who was on the team, and things like that, but I felt like, the team that we had, didn’t let the outside noise and the distractions get the best of us. We went in there with the mindset that, ‘We are the best team out there and we’re gonna do our best and we’re gonna bring home the gold.’ After TeeTee (Twanisha Terry) crossed the finish line, it just felt good to be a part of something so great because it will go down in history as one of the biggest upsets ever. That was really special for me.”
Future
With her success from the 2022 season, Jefferson decided to transition to a professional career after spending three years competing for Coastal Carolina.
“I think a lot of people may know now, but during Worlds or right before Worlds started I signed a professional contract with Nike,” said Jefferson. “I was still able to stay with my coach and train here at Coastal which I feel like for me is a good thing especially with that being my first year as a professional and you know there’s already a lot of changes.”
Time at Coastal Carolina
For Melissa, she intends to finish her degree at Coastal Carolina as she is still enrolled and studying Public Health.
“I wanted to get into epidemiology, but I realized with public health, the major itself is so broad and there’s so many different avenues you can take within the major,” she said about her academics. “So I literally found myself at one point in time just going through the classes and seeing which ones actually piqued my interest the most. And, as of recently, the classes that I’ve enjoyed the most were the Global Health Studies, comparing healthcare systems and seeing what we have as being in a more powerful country like the United States.”
One of the biggest aspects of being part of a small D1 school like Coastal is the community around it in the town of Conway, South Carolina.
“They really take pride in Coastal Carolina and they really support the school as a whole as much as they possibly can,” said Jefferson about Conway. “As far as like, on the sports aspect of things, they’ve really been a huge support in not only my success, but the success of other sports too.”
Even with the size of the school, Jefferson knows that the athletics at Coastal are headed in the right direction. The past couple of years have provided evidence as their men’s baseball team won a national title in 2016 along with the football team having success in the Sun Belt Conference.
“I’d say the direction that Coastal is heading towards is in the right place,” she said. “And not only that, but in track and field I know we’ve had a lot of success as a team, but some of my teammates have had a good amount of success individually as well and they’re going to continue to grow.”
“They need to do it to make sure that people still know that, ‘Hey, you can get it done at Coastal Carolina.’”
This conversation was the first in a two-part series. Part two will be about her faith, story, and hopes for the future of the sport.
