Lorton Athlete Rising to Great Heights

Felecia Majors, the junior track athlete at who just claimed the young school’s first-ever state championship in any sport, has a proving ground. But it’s not the 400-meter oval. It’s not the landing pit for the long jump. It’s not the instant when her body clears the bar during the pole vault or high jump.

It’s a cul-de-sac in her Lorton neighborhood.

That’s where, while waiting for the bus to go to William Halley elementary school as a young girl, she would race all her friends. That’s where she earned the unofficial title of bus stop champion.

“Everybody just knew,” said the effervescent Majors. “Every time somebody moved to the neighborhood, it was ‘race her!’”

And she never lost.

Now, not only is Majors one of the fastest and most accomplished athletes in the Patriot District and the Northern Region, she has two state titles to her name—in the pole vault and the long jump—and she’s a state threat in the high jump and sprints.

Becoming The Best

“I can’t believe we ran around this tiny circle,” she said. “Now I’m doing this 400-meters and it’s like, ‘whoa.’ It’s huge. That was nothing. … It was probably 100 meters, but it seemed longer back then.”

Majors, a lithe five-foot-five and 109 pounds, has a speed and fearlessness that uniquely positions her to dominate the pole vault in Virginia. She cleared 12 feet in the state meet at the Boo Williams Sportplex in Hampton at the end of February, but her indoor best is an inch higher. Her coach, T.D. Holsclaw, said the team’s pole vault coach Randy McConchie thinks she could add another foot if she gets her technique down.

But she only took on the pole vault because she tried all the other field events first, “because I wasn’t good at anything,” she said. But after a freshman year of just drills, South County had a prodigy on its hands.

“As soon as I got my run down, I was pretty good,” she said.

Holsclaw, who has coached in the area for almost 20 years, said Majors is the best all-around track prospect he has seen, and that includes Murielle Ahoure, a Hayfield grad who will be in the London Olympics this summer for Ivory Coast.

“She’d be the best, without a doubt,” Holsclaw said. “Because she can do so many events and do them well.”

Records Broken

Majors broke Ahoure’s district records in the 100- (12.17 seconds) and 200-meters (24.80) last year. And she’s ranked in the nation’s top 50 in five of her events.

All this, from a girl who didn’t get involved in organized running until ninth grade.

As a result, she absorbs coaching like a sponge from any source, including televised track and field events and videos on YouTube. She’ll be glued to the Olympics this summer, she said, not just because she’s a fan and a student, but because she can see herself making a run at the Rio de Janeiro games in 2016.

“It’s always been a dream of mine, to make it to the Olympics, for anything. I don’t really care what event. Just going and making it is an honor,” Majors said.

A big part of that Olympic progression is finishing strong in her high school career and choosing a college that will position her for international success. She’s already gotten attention from some major players in the NCAA track and field world, and while she doesn’t have a college in mind yet … “I just know I want to go somewhere down South, I don’t like the cold,” she said.

By the time she wraps up her career at South County, Majors said she hopes to have a few more state titles in her name. Holsclaw said it’s not impossible that she could amass 20 regional victories in her events—she already has 11 with three more seasons to go.

And she’ll always be known as the first-ever Stallions’ state champion.

“It was exciting. I knew South County had never had a state champion before,” she said. “It was something I had as a motivator.”

Now she’s taking aim at state records, which means at least another six inches on the pole vault outdoors, about three seconds in the 400-meters and half a second on the 100.

“I’m going to want to try to place in states again and have a title,” she said. “I want to break a record at states because that’s a step up. It’s going to be a hard goal, but it’s a way to work harder.”