Skyler Franklin

Western HS, Miramar, FL, c/o 2026
AthleticNET Bio

As a nine year old, Skyler Franklin “was horrible” at cheerleading she recalls. “ I have no rhythm. None whatsoever.” So when her mom noticed that she was getting back first from running the cheerleaders would do, she thought track might be a good idea.

“My cheerleading coach made us run laps every time we would do a routine wrong. I was the first person back every time.  My mom said I should run track and ever since that I've just been running track.”

So she started track, but  it didn’t go so well at first.

“I was horrible. It was bad, real bad,” she says of her first track practices in ‘16. “ When I first started the 400, I used to walk the 400m. I didn't know what I was doing. I was a mess.”

“Horrible” is a relative term when it comes to someone so fast. By the time the ‘16 season had ended, she had finished a non-final qualifying ninth in the 100m(14.37, -0.2) and was DQ’ed in the 200m semi finals for a lane violation after running 30.07(0.9) at the AAU JO Nationals in Turner Stadium in Humble, TX. 

What registers in her mind as a turning point in her young career was the following year when she was 10. At Rynearson Stadium in Ypsilanti, MI, she finished third in the 100m(13.35, +1.5) and 200m(27.08) and won the 400m(61.39).

“Everybody kept telling me I was talented and to keep going so I kept going. As I got closer to 2018 I just started trusting my process and me running and working out  track meets. I’ve just trusted everything since then.”

Skyler has always been surrounded by good coaching since she began. She began with Alex Armensteros, the 2014 National High School Coaches Association Boys Track and Field Coach of the Year, Rodney Walters and Gary Evans, head coach of Empire Athletics whose roster includes Tamari Davis, Steven Gardiner,  Jasmin Camacho Quinn and Matthew Hudson-Smith.

Her seventh grade year she began to work with Evans. She doesn’t recall how she met Coach Evans, but she would spend summers in Clermont training with Coach Evans. During the season, he would send her workouts as well.

“The end of summer, I used to always go there when school was over and train for a week, just to see how it was and I liked it. I just trained with the pros and all that. He used to send workouts for me to run down here.”

She continued to show promise as she finished second in the 200m(24.43, -1.3) at the USATF JO Nationals and fourth in the 100m(12.26, -1.3).  By her eighth grade year, she had won the 200m(24.09, +2.8) and the 400m(54.68) at the Adidas Outdoor Nationals.

Her ninth grade year was a mixed bag. She finished second in the 200m in 23.38(+2.8) at the Louie Bing Invitational on Feb 18, ran a personal best of 11.59(+1.4) on April 8 and a personal best of 52.52 at the 4A District 14 meet. 

At the Region 4 meet, she ran against eventual 400m 4A state champ, Cynteria James of Miami Southridge, a University of Kentucky signee). She ran neck and neck before James edged Franklin 52.53-52.61. Afterwards, Franklin was DQ’ed for unsportsmanlike conduct. As she explains it, she was trying to avoid a bad situation following the race.

“So basically, when I was crossing the line, some girl had said something to me. I tried not to say anything back. I was trying to avoid a situation by walking off the track towards the gate because there was too much being said at the finish line. An official grabbed my hand and I just moved his hand off of me. I didn't slap his hand, I just moved his hand. They DQ’ed me for unsportsmanship. But he touched me first. So it's not like I punched him in his eye.”

With that incident behind her, she competed in the postseason finishing second in the 400m(53.57) at  Brooks PR Invitational before flying across the country to compete in the New Balance Nationals Outdoor Championships and winning the 200m(23.59,+2.9) and finishing third in the 400m(54.28).

This upcoming season will mark a change for her as she moves 240 miles north to attend Montverde Academy. She is a boarder there and looks forward to the training and the teammates she will be working with. The eldest of nine( she has six brothers and three sisters) is adjusting using her own spices for the food they are providing her. Of the move she says:

“I was ready for a change and I want to become better. Also it’s a  really good training team and stuff.”

Her new training partners will help her with her most dreaded workouts, repeat 600s and 300s. She knows that these are important and she does them, but she does not look forward to them.

“To reach my aspirations, I think I’ll need to work harder. Even though I hate doing long distances, and stuff. I feel I should do it because that's what's best for me.”