Dudleys Shalei Jordan overcomes foot injury, rides confidence at Guilford County Championships
Shalei Jordan couldn't contain her enthusiasm.
The Dudley sprinter won the girls' 200 meters at the Guilford County Championships on Saturday, earning congratulations from teammates and opposing competitors at her school's J.A. Tarpley Stadium. All the time, she was exuberantly repeating her time, which was a personal best.
"24.3! 24.3! 24.3!" It was a reward for hard work during what she called was a hard season.
"It meant a lot," Jordan said. "Dudley track has always been a very competitive program. It's always had really good track athletes that have gone on to college programs and all of that, so being able to win a really competitive race as this one was, that really felt good."
Jordan entered this year's indoor season looking to break out as Dudley sprinters from recent years, Jalee Brown and Nilijah Darden, had graduated and landed with Division I schools. But she described the winter as a challenge between battling a foot injury and her times not being where she wanted them to be. She finished sixth in the 6A state indoor 300 meters on Feb. 12 and her body didn't start to feel good until running a 24.99 in the 200 meters at the New Balance Indoor Nationals in mid-March.
Conversations with Dudley coach TeQuille Jackson, Darden and her peers reminded Jordan to trust in the process and that training would lead to results. In the early outdoor season, she didn't break 25 seconds in the 200 but ran a then-personal best 24.74 on April 11 at the Panther Invitational, her best time since running a 24.99 in the same meet last year.
She felt satisfied with the 24.74, seeing improvement from last year's times, despite the injury. The performance moved her to 23rd in the state for the 200 this season entering the Guilford County meet. The 24.3 catapulted her to eighth in the state, second among juniors, and second in the area behind only Southeast Guilford's Ataja Stephane-Vazquez, a 2026 Georgia signee.
"… Coming here, I was really focused on just making myself proud and still having fun without being so focused on the time because you know, sometimes the time can really affect your personal look on track," Jordan said. "But just talking to my support, my coach - shoutout coach TJ - talking to them really helped."
With a confident mindset, her technique was on point.
"I was really focused on getting out to the curve and then from the curve, slingshotting off, pumping my arms, going as fast as I could, really just focusing on my form," Jordan said. "But I really did focus on my start. I wanted to make sure I got out of the blocks well because I was racing against some really fast girls. I wanted to make sure that I could keep up and keep the race going and potentially be the leader."
Jordan also won the 400 meters in 58.31, giving her two of Dudley's seven victories. She finished fourth in the 100 meters to give the Lady Panthers 17 top five finishes on the way to 145 points and the program's fifth consecutive Guilford County Outdoor team title.
"It feels really good," Jordan said of the team win. "Even coming to Dudley my freshman year, I always knew that we had a standard to uphold and I wanted to be a part of the reason that standard was kept."
Jordan hopes to use recent success as a boost heading down the stretch. Dudley finishes the season with a final conference meet on Wednesday and the Metro 6A/7A Conference Championships on April 28, both at home. The 6A Central regionals are scheduled May 9 at Asheboro and the 6A state championships are slated for May 16 at Truist Stadium at North Carolina A&T.
"I feel the mindset going in is really believing in myself," Jordan said. "I do struggle with confidence a lot. I do struggle with believing that I can do something until I do it, so just continuing to build off of this and continuing to let myself know that you belong here, you ran fast and you can do it again."
Jordan has an energetic personality and is supportive towards others. The A-B honor roll student is a member of National Honor Society, is in pursuit of a CNA license as part of Dudley's nursing fundamentals program and has been with community service clubs like Dudley Ladies, where she has helped supply food and clothing for the homeless, and Helping Hands, where she made cards for children with cancer among other activities.
"It means a lot to me because it means a lot to me to even have people supporting me and letting me know that this thing can go the way I imagine," she said. "I just have to believe in myself … It means a lot to be able to be someone that someone can confide in and it means a lot to be able to support my wonderful team and allow my team to grow with me as I grow myself."
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