ROCKINGHAM — Taliah Wall, a senior on the Richmond Senior High School track and field team, has been named the Official Richmond County Female Athlete of the Week.
Competing in two meets last week, Wall was the leading Lady Raider in Wednesday’s home Sandhills Athletic Conference matchup against Jack Britt, Lumberton and Purnell Swett high schools. She earned a team-high three first-place finishes, propelling the Lady Raiders to a first-place overall finish, and her to her third Athlete of the Week nomination.
Athletic Profile
Age: 17
Birthday: Sept. 12, 2001
Year: Senior
Spring Sport: Track and Field
Events: 100 & 300-meter hurdles,
high jump, long jump and triple jump
Years on Varsity: 4 Years
Height & Weight: 5-4, 137 pounds
Experience: 4 Years
RACING THE FACTS WITH TALIAH WALL
RSHS Academics: Wall attends Richmond Early College on the campus of Richmond Community College and will see her final semester come to a close in May. She’s currently taking just her elective courses, including math, sociology, psychology and ethics.
Her favorite class this semester is Math 152 with Ms. Holly Brown, explaining “I’ve always been good at math … and I’ll need it for my future career.”
Wall has also been a member of the Lady Raider basketball program, spending the last two seasons at the varsity level.
Future Plans: A major benefit of attending Early College, Wall explained, is that she’ll enter college as a junior. She plans to complete her certified nursing assistant (CNA) certificate over the summer and attend Winston-Salem State University in the fall.
“I’ll go in as junior, and I want to be a nurse practitioner,” Wall explained. “I like working with kids and want to help take care of them.
“I’ve also been talking to the track coach there, so hopefully I’ll run in college,” she added. “I’m looking forward to getting to meet new people and looking forward getting done so I can fulfill my dreams.”
Athlete of the Week Stats: The Lady Raider track and field team has seen several top three finishes this spring, and its most recent win came last Wednesday at home. Richmond notched 135.5 points to secure the win over second-place Jack Britt (77.5 points).
Wall earned first-place honors in the long jump, triple jump and 100-meter hurdles. Her marks of 14’-6” (long jump) and 31’-2” (triple jump) were part of a Lady Raider jumping team that collected 33.5 points on the afternoon. She also edged Jack Britt’s Jada Cole by over a second in the 100-meter hurdles, finishing in 16.49 seconds.
Taliah Wall clears a hurdle in last week’s home meet, an event she took first in.
RAPID FIRE – FAST RESPONSES
1) Which event is your favorite to compete in and why?
“It’s between 100 hurdles or triple jump,” Wall said. “I’ve been running hurdles since ninth grade, and I like the pace of the event. I just started the triple last year, but I qualified for regionals. It’s harder to jump, the steps are tricky. But I’m good at hurdles because I’ve made regionals all four years.”
2) If you could meet and have lunch with any pro athlete who would it be and why?
“Either LeBron James or Kevin Durant,” Wall explained. “I’d like to go to a fancy restaurant, somewhere that’s not in Richmond County. I really like the way they play, and they’re both different on the basketball court.
“I’d probably talk to them about different stuff, not just basketball,” she added.
Coach’s Corner: Head coach Reggie Miller spoke of Wall’s work ethic and what she does to make a difference on the Lady Raider track and field team.
“Taliah is a great athlete and I’ve been with her for four years,” Miller said. “She was here when we went through some struggles, and she showed me that she could do really well in hurdles. During her ninth-grade year, she went to the state championship.
“She’s a point-getter and one of the best athletes out here,” he added. “She knows she wants to get better and comes to practice looking to improve every day. She’s such a hard worker and she brings that to the team. She’s an even better person.”
