Rylee Hampton

Cypress Ridge HS, Houston, TX, c/o 2024
AthleticNET Bio

Rylee Hampton’s first exposure to track and field was in the seventh grade. It was the first year it was offered at her school and she decided to try it. Each day her coaches would have her try different events. It took some time before she found her niche.

“They were just trying everybody in different events. I remember we tried the pole vault one day, and the next day we tried the mile and I was like, ‘no, no.’  Then they said ‘you might have to do the hurdles.’ And I said ‘alright’. They immediately put me in hurdles, because I guess I was flexible. Then I kind of just stuck with it since then. ” 

She adapted to the hurdles pretty easily. She had done gymnastics for a few years and the flexibility she had and that the coaches saw in her made her a good fit for the hurdles. She began with the longer hurdles and broke the district record in her first meet. As time went on she became better at the shorter 100m hurdles.

She participated in summer track in those seasons developing her hurdle technique and getting more experience. She didn’t have any expectations her freshman year.

“Coming into that season, I was just doing track to have fun really. At the beginning of the season, I was like ‘yeah, I'm not going anywhere with this. I’m just not a fast one.’  I was running so bad,” she says. 

As the season marched on, she began to see a change.

“The further on I got, the better I got. When I actually got to the championship, I was just happy to be there, really.”

She came away with a  fifth in the 100m hurdles (13.76, +6.1) at the Texas 6A State meet. Her 300m hurdle best that season was 43.36 which placed her a non-qualifying fourth in her region meet. 

She continued to work at it and in her sophomore year, she finished third in the 100m hurdles (13.73,+2.3) and fifth in the 300m hurdles(42.23) at the state championships.

This past year, her coaches, Marlon Odom and Will Collins, emphasized weight training. At first she didn’t see the connection between training and running, but later found it to be very beneficial. This past season, her performances were her best to date.

One of her signature wins during the regular season came at the Texas Relays.  In the preliminaries, she ran a windy 13.31(2.1) and was the fastest qualifier. Then in the finals she edged Makeriah Harris by .004 to win with a 13.18. Her comments on that win give some insight into her mindset and her strengths as a competitor. 

“I'm a big competitor. If it's a tight race, I do my best to keep up, especially at the Texas Relays. Me and my other competitors were neck and neck really. So just having that dog in me a little bit got me the win.”

She has not always had that tenacity. It has developed over the years. She used to be anxious before events but has drawn inspiration from her parents, Sydney McLaughlin and her own journey to arrive at where she is now.

“Sometimes I tended to overthink and overanalyze things which really just made me worry and made me really anxious. My favorite verse is Psalms 46:10 Be still and know that I'm God. That's really just helped me throughout the season, and just knowing that what God has for me is going to be there. And if it's not for me, it's not going to happen. I can't force anything and I can't make anything happen by myself. Just trusting in His will and His timing really; in knowing that everything's going to be okay.”

This past season her coaches have really helped with her mindset too.

“I feel like my sophomore year it was kind of all over the place, really. Coach Marlon and Coach Will  really boosted my confidence this year. Also, I put a lot of my faith in God really. So that's really just keeping me level headed really kept me stable this past year.”

This past junior season, she won the 100m hurdles at the Texas 6A state meet (13.64,-0.6) and finished seventh in the 300m hurdles in 43.54. In the postseason, she had a slight injury which kept her out of meets in May and June, but then rebounded with a third place finish at the USATF U20 Championships in Eugene, OR with a 13.35(+0.3). The time surprised her because she hadn’t raced in nearly two months. Her performance there has her in consideration for Team USA that will compete in the Pan Am Games in Santiago, Chile in late October 30 - November 4.

Her father is Rodney Hampton, the former University of Georgia and Giants running back whose team won the ‘91 Super Bowl. He runs a football camp, Hamps Camps in the Houston area and travels to New York and to the University of Georgia at times for events. She says he is treated well in New York and Georgia where he is revered. She said she is awe struck at the amount of recognition her dad gets when she is with him. Her dad, though famous in some circles, is her dad and gives her great advice and lets her form her own path.

“He's a really big supporter. He doesn't like to be like a helicopter dad and he really trusts my coaches. As far as advice, he's really big on just staying healthy and having fun and making sure your heart's in it. And just working smart, really. He's really a great father to have and it is really good to have advice on going to the pro level and the next level in sports.”

She’s getting some interest from schools and is focusing on schools out of state and in more temperate climates. She dreads the 105 weather she trains in now and thinks that some other place might be a welcome change. 

She’s excited about the upcoming season. She played volleyball her freshman and sophomore seasons, but didn’t play this season to concentrate on track. She’s going to drop the longer hurdles to focus on her 100m and 200m sprints and the 100 meter hurdles. She’d like to get down to 11.5 in the 100m, low 24s in the 200m and go under 13 for the 100m hurdles.

“I have big goals. One of the goals for this next season is to go under 13. What I really want to do is try to stay consistent and healthy throughout my season.”