Quanesha Burks (born March 15, 1995) 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 mainly competes as a

long jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a ...

er. She represented her country at the

2015 Pan American Games Fifteen or 15 may refer to: *15 (number), the natural number following 14 and preceding 16 *one of the years 15 BC, AD 15, 1915, 2015 Music * Fifteen (band), a punk rock band Albums * ''15'' (Buckcherry album), 2005 * ''15'' (Ani Lorak al ...

and the

2017 World Championships in Athletics Seventeen or 17 may refer to: *17 (number), the natural number following 16 and preceding 18 * one of the years 17 BC, AD 17, 1917, 2017 Literature Magazines * ''Seventeen'' (American magazine), an American magazine * ''Seventeen'' (Japanese m ...

. She was the gold medalist at the regional 2015 NACAC Championships in Athletics. Collegiately, she competed for

Alabama Crimson Tide The Alabama Crimson Tide refers to the intercollegiate athletic varsity teams that represent the University of Alabama, located in Tuscaloosa. The Crimson Tide teams compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I as a me ...

and was the 2015 NCAA Division I champion in long jump.

Career

Born to Lesha Dobbins in

Ozark, Alabama Ozark is a city in and the county seat of Dale County, Alabama. As of the 2010 census, the population of the city was 14,907. Ozark is the principal city of the Ozark Micropolitan Statistical Area, as well as a part of the Dothan-Ozark Combi ...

, she attended Hartselle High School and went on to study at

University of Alabama The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, or Bama) is a public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of Alabama is the oldest and largest of the publi ...

. Burks has four younger siblings; two brothers and two sisters. While a high school student, she took up track and performed well, going on to place third in the

triple jump The triple jump, sometimes referred to as the hop, step and jump or the hop, skip and jump, is a track and field event, similar to the long jump. As a group, the two events are referred to as the "horizontal jumps". The competitor runs down th ...

at the 2012

USATF Junior Olympics The USATF National Junior Olympic Track & Field Championships, also known as the USATF Junior Olympics, is an annual track and field competition for American athletes between the ages of seven and eighteen. It is organised by USA Track & Field and f ...

and winning a 100-meter dash/long jump/triple jump triple at the 2013 state championships.

College

Burks competed for the

where she was a multiple-time

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities o ...

champion and multiple-time

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

champion, including being Alabama's first women's long jump champion. In college, she also competed in the 100 meter dash and 4x100 relay. Her first NCAA long jump title came at the 2015 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships. She was runner-up to Jamaica's Chanice Porter at the 2016 NCAA Outdoor Championships and also took second at the

2017 NCAA Division I Indoor Track and Field Championships The 2017 NCAA Division I Indoor Track and Field Championships was the 53rd NCAA Men's Division I Indoor Track and Field Championships and the 36th NCAA Women's Division I Indoor Track and Field Championships, held at the Gilliam Indoor Track Stad ...

after Sha'Keela Saunders.

Professional

Burks made her international debut at the age of nineteen, competing in the long jump at the

2014 World Junior Championships in Athletics The 2014 World Junior Championships in Athletics was an international athletics competition for athletes qualifying as juniors (born 1995 or later) which was held at the Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon, USA, on 22–27 July 2014. A total of 44 ...

, where she placed fifth.Quanesha Burks
IAAF. Retrieved 2018-02-19. A senior gold medal came at the 2015 NACAC Championships in Athletics, where she set the championship record at 6.93 m. She managed eighth place in the final at the

, but took a second regional gold at the

2016 NACAC Under-23 Championships in Athletics The 9th NACAC Under-23 Championships in Athletics were held at Estadio Jorge "Mágico" González, Jorge "El Magico" Gonzalez National Stadium in San Salvador, El Salvador from July 15–17, 2016. Medal summary Medal winners and complete results ...

, breaking the championship record with a jump of 6.74 m. After a fourth place finish at the 2017 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, her global senior debut came at the

, though she did not make it beyond the qualifying round. She was third at the 2018 PSD Bank Meeting on the IAAF World Indoor Tour, then finished second to Brittney Reese at the

2018 USA Indoor Track and Field Championships The 2018 USA Indoor Track and Field Championships were held at the Albuquerque Convention Center in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Organized by USA Track and Field (USATF), the three-day competition took place from February 16 to February 18 and served ...

to earn qualification to the

2018 IAAF World Indoor Championships The 17th IAAF World Indoor Championships was held from 1 to 4 March 2018 in Birmingham, United Kingdom. This was the city's second hosting of the event as it previously did so in 2003. Bidding process Birmingham bid for the 2016 IAAF World Ind ...

where she finished 4th.

International competitions

National titles

*NCAA Outdoor Championships **

Long jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a ...

: 2015

Personal life

Burks grew up in poverty. She worked at McDonald's as a high school student to help pay for her grandmother's car insurance.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Burks, Quanesha Living people Track and field athletes from Alabama People from Ozark, Alabama American female long jumpers Pan American Games track and field athletes for the United States Athletes (track and field) at the 2015 Pan American Games World Athletics Championships athletes for the United States African-American track and field athletes American female track and field athletes Alabama Crimson Tide women's track and field athletes 1995 births USA Indoor Track and Field Championships winners Athletes (track and field) at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic track and field athletes for the United States 21st-century African-American sportspeople 21st-century African-American women