Texas A&M-bound Aaliyah Brown is on track

“It was an ok race, I guess I didn’t know where the finish line was,” said 18 year-old Aaliyah Brown, who was commenting on her performance at the 2013 Dream 100 race at the New York Diamond league at Icahn Stadium last weekend. Aaliyah continued “It’s my third time here [Dream 100], its cold, the elements are kind of off ... I am just glad that I came out here and ran against some good competition.” Aaliyah finished in 4^th place in a season best 11.63 seconds behind winner Ky Westbrook (11.52), Mary Elizabeth Sant (11.55) and Kali Davis-White (11.59). Aaliyah, a senior at Lincoln-Way East high school (Illinois) who has a lifetime best 11.42 seconds in the 100m, was positive and upbeat after her performance. Winning Note “I ended my senior year in high school pretty good,” said Aaliyah with pride. She has just ended a successful senior campaign which saw her capturing the Illinois State Class 3A individual titles in the 100m (11.42) and 200m (24.03) and then leading her Lincoln-Way team to victory in the 4x100 and 4x200 relays to capture the overall state title for Lincoln-Way. Aaliyah was also instrument in leading her Lincoln-East  team to a 4^th place finish in 46.10 seconds in the high school 4x100 Championship of America race at the 2013 Penn relays, behind Jamaican powerhouse Holmwood Tech (44.82) and Edwin Allen (45.15) and Long Beach Poly (45.80). Commenting on her team’s performance at the Penn relays Aaliyah said “That was a great, great, great meet; especially running against the Jamaicans and getting 4^th overall; to represent the USA like that, it was a very good experience… the team was very happy since we had two freshman and a junior; they haven’t been in an environment like that before.” College-bound Aaliyah, the Illinois 2012 Girl Track Athlete of the Year will attend Texas A&M University this fall said that her favorite event is the 100m. “This year I have been working on putting more power into my 100m. I have also been working on not trying to run other people race but to run my own race,” she said. Aaliyah credits her dad Angelo Brown and the coaching staff at The Illinios Elite Track Club for her success. Her dad  is the owner of the club. What’s next for Aaliyah? “I am going to have some down time since I have just completed my high school career.  However,  I will be trying out for the USA's  Pan-Am team this summer,” she said.