Candyce McGrone (born March 24, 1989) is an American

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping eve ...

athlete who competes in sprinting events. She holds personal records of 11.00 second for the 100-meter dash and 22.01 seconds for the

200-meter dash The 200 metres, or 200-meter dash, is a sprint running event. On an outdoor 400 metre racetrack, the race begins on the curve and ends on the home straight, so a combination of techniques is needed to successfully run the race. A slight ...

. She was second in the 200 m at the

2015 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships The 2015 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships were held at Hayward Field, University of Oregon in Eugene, Oregon. Organized by USA Track and Field, the four-day competition took place June 25–28 and served as the national championships i ...

. She ran collegiately for Florida State University and the

University of Oklahoma , mottoeng = "For the benefit of the Citizen and the State" , type = Public research university , established = , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $2.7billion (2021) , pr ...

. She was the 2011 NCAA Women's Champion over 100 m.

Career

Early life and college

McGrone grew up in

Indianapolis, Indiana Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Mari ...

and attended Warren Central High School there. She competed in the 100-meter dash and

while at the school and was a finalist at the USATF Junior Championships in 2007 and 2008. She started a major in communications at Florida State University in 2008 and began running for their

Florida State Seminoles track and field The track and field teams of Florida State University, (variously Florida State or FSU), are currently coached by Bob Braman and compete in the Atlantic Coast Conference. The men's team has won fourteen indoor conference championships, thirty-fi ...

team. In Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) competition, she was fifth in the

60-meter dash 60 metres, or 60-meter dash, is a sprint event in track and field. It is a championship event for indoor championships, normally dominated by the best outdoor 100 metres runners. At outdoor venues it is a rare distance, at least for senior at ...

indoors and was the 100 m runner-up outdoors, as well as being the 4×100-meter relay champion with the college. The team of Nicole Marcus, McGrone, Danielle Jeffrey, and Teona Rodgers proved to be one of the best in the country that year, taking second place for the Seminoles at the

NCAA Women's Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships The NCAA Division I Women's Outdoor Track and Field Championships are the annual collegiate track and field competitions for women athletes representing Division I institutions organised by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). At ...

. McGrone specialised in the 200 m for the 2010 season and improved her best by almost half a second to 22.84 seconds. She won the ACC Indoor title over the distance and placed third at the ACC outdoors. She made her individual NCAA debut that year, running in the heats at the

NCAA Women's Division I Indoor Track and Field Championships The NCAA Women's Division I Indoor Track and Field Championship is an annual collegiate indoor track and field competition for women from Division I institutions organised by the National Collegiate Athletic Association. Athletes' performances i ...

and reaching the semi-finals of the 200 m at the 2010 NCAA Outdoor Championships. The Seminole relay team fell down the order at that event, failing to reach the final. McGrone competed for the first time at the

USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships The USA Track & Field Outdoor Championships is an annual track and field competition organized by USA Track & Field, which serves as the American national championships for the sport. Since the year 1992, in the years which feature a Summer Oly ...

, but ran in the heats only.Candace McGrone
Tilastopaja. Retrieved on 2015-07-17. She also made her international debut and won a 200 m bronze medal behind Tiffany Townsend and

Kimberly Hyacinthe Kimberly Hyacinthe (born 28 March 1989) is a Canadian athlete specializing in the sprinting events. She competed in the 200 meters at the 2011 World Championships in Athletics without advancing to the semifinals. Hyacinthe was born in Terrebo ...

. Before the start of a third year at Florida, she transferred to

and instead began to run for the

Oklahoma Sooners The Oklahoma Sooners are the athletic teams that represent the University of Oklahoma, located in Norman. The 19 men's and women's varsity teams are called the "Sooners", a reference to a nickname given to the early participants in the Land Ru ...

team. At her first major meet, the

Big 12 Conference The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference headquartered in Irving, Texas, USA. It consists of ten full-member universities. It is a member of Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for all sports. Its ...

indoor championships, she won the 200 m title and was a finalist in the 60 m. After she ran a personal record of 7.28 seconds for the shorter distance in the NCAA Indoor Championships heats, before taking the runner-up spot in the 200 m. She equalled her outdoor best of 22.84 seconds in the competition. She began to compete in both the 100 and 200 m in the outdoor season and managed to set a best of 11.17 seconds in the 100 m to win at the

Drake Relays The Drake Relays (officially the Drake Relays presented by Xtream powered by Mediacom) is an outdoor track and field event held in Des Moines, Iowa, in Drake Stadium on the campus of Drake University. Billed as ''America's Athletic Classic'', i ...

. At the Big 12 outdoors she was runner-up over 100 m and third in the 200 m and shortly after she ran a school record of 22.84 seconds for the 200 m. The 2011 NCAA Outdoor Championships saw McGrone reach the peak of her collegiate career: she was the surprise winner of the NCAA women's 100 m title in a school record of 11.08 seconds, edging out 200 m winner

Kimberlyn Duncan Kimberlyn Duncan (born August 2, 1991) is an American track and field athlete, specializing in the sprints. She was the 2013 American champion at 200 metres, having defeated Olympic champion Allyson Felix with a strong stretch run. Her time o ...

by one hundredth of a second. She also finished fourth over the 200 m distance and ran in the heats of the relay. This helped the Oklahoma Sooner women's team to their highest ever finish at the championship, in fourth place. Her coach Dana Boone later reflected that training McGrone to the NCAA title was among the highlights of her coaching career.

Professional

After the college season, she entered the

2011 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships The 2011 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships were held at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon. Organised by USA Track and Field, the four-day competition took place from June 23–26 and served as the national championships in track and field f ...

and claimed sixth place in the 100 m. She made the decision to forgo the remainder of her time at college and immediately turned professional with the aim of getting selected for the 2012 Summer Olympics. In her first professional races, she won at the

Hampton International Games Hampton may refer to: Places Australia *Hampton bioregion, an IBRA biogeographic region in Western Australia * Hampton, New South Wales * Hampton, Queensland, a town in the Toowoomba Region *Hampton, Victoria Canada *Hampton, New Brunswick *Ha ...

then placed fourth in the 100 m at the DN Galan in Stockholm – her first outing on the

IAAF Diamond League The Diamond League is an annual series of elite track and field athletic competitions comprising fourteen of the best invitational athletics meetings. The series sits in the top tier of the World Athletics (formerly known as the IAAF) one-day mee ...

circuit. A personal best of 7.21 seconds came at the

2012 USA Indoor Track and Field Championships The 2012 USA Indoor Track and Field Championships was held at Albuquerque Convention Center in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Organized by USA Track and Field (USATF), the two-day competition took place on February 25–26, in conjunction with the USA In ...

, where she ranked sixth in the 60 m. McGrone ultimately failed in her Olympic attempt, being eliminated in the 100 m semi-finals at the 2012 United States Olympic Trials. She was three tenths of a second slower over the distance that year, and over half a second slower in the 200 m. She ended her 2012 season in June and did not return to competition until the following April as a result of an injury, but again she was far from her previous peak, failing to get past the first round of either sprint distance at the 2013 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships. Her situation attracted comment from

Tonja Buford-Bailey Tonja Yvette Buford-Bailey (born December 13, 1970, in Dayton, Ohio) is an American former athlete who competed mainly in the 400 meter hurdles. She competed as Tonja Buford until marrying Victor Bailey on October 28, 1995. In 1982, when she was ...

, coach to the University of Illinois, who advised college athletes to avoid those encouraging them to end college early and said such people had "ruined" McGrone. McGrone's 2014 season was again injury affected and she only reached seasonal bests of 11.26 seconds for the 100 m and 23.43 seconds for the 200 m. She was again eliminated in the first round of the

2014 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships The 2014 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships was held at Hornet Stadium in Sacramento, California. Organised by USA Track and Field, the four-day competition took place June 26–29 in conjunction with the USA Junior Combined Events Outdoo ...

. Her fortunes were revived once she began working with new coach

Dennis Mitchell Dennis Allen Mitchell (born February 20, 1966) is an American former college and international track and field athlete, who was a member of the gold medal-winning team in the 4 x 100 meters relay race at ...

and among her new training group was

Justin Gatlin Justin Alexander Gatlin (born February 10, 1982) is a retired American sprinter who competed in the 60 meters, 100 meters, and 200 meters. He is the 2004 Olympic Champion in the 100 meters, the 2005 and 2017 World Champion in the 100 meters, the ...

(the leading male sprinter in 2014),

Isiah Young Isiah Young (born January 5, 1990) is an American track and field athlete who competes in the sprints. He was selected to compete for the United States at the 2012 Summer Olympics in the 200-meter dash. Born in Junction City, Kansas, he attende ...

and world junior champion Kaylin Whitney. A change of diet and weight-loss saw her return to the peak of sprinting. In her first month of racing in 2015 she ran a world-leading time of 22.56 seconds – improving her previous best by a quarter of a second. She was some way off this pace at the

New York Diamond League The USATF New York Grand Prix is an annual athletics meeting held at Icahn Stadium in New York City, United States. The event was part of the IAAF Grand Prix from 2007 to 2009. For 2010 it was promoted to the top-level Diamond League through 2 ...

race, coming sixth, but reached new heights at the

two weeks later. In the 100 m she ran a personal record of 11.00 seconds in the heats before being narrowly eliminated in the semi-final with a wind-assisted 10.91 seconds. It was in the 200 m which she proved herself, finishing the final in another new best of 22.38 seconds to place runner-up behind Jenna Prandini. This earned her a place on the United States World Championships team. In July, she established herself on the international circuit by winning the Herculis 200 m race on the

2015 IAAF Diamond League The 2015 Diamond League was the sixth season of the annual series of outdoor track and field meetings, organised by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF). It consisted of fourteen one-day meetings, starting on 15 May in ...

with a time of 22.08 seconds – an improvement of three tenths of a second to raise her to second of the seasonal rankings after Allyson Felix.Zaccardi, Nick (2015-07-17)
Justin Gatlin stays hot; Genzebe Dibaba breaks world record in Monaco
NBC Sports. Retrieved on 2015-07-17.

Personal bests

* 100-meter dash – 11.00 (2015) *

– 22.01 (2015) *

50-meter dash 50 metres, or 50-meter dash, is a sprint event in track and field. It is a relatively uncommon non-championship event for indoor track and field, normally dominated by the best outdoor 100 metres runners. At outdoor athletics competitions it is ...

indoor – 6.28 (2012) *

indoor – 7.21 (2012) *200-meter dash indoor – 22.84 (2011)

International competitions

Circuit wins

** Herculis 200 m: 2015

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:McGrone, Candyce Living people 1989 births American female sprinters Florida State Seminoles women's track and field athletes Oklahoma Sooners women's track and field athletes World Athletics Championships athletes for the United States Track and field athletes from Indianapolis Track and field athletes from Indiana