To understand how fast Iyana Gray is, imagine she is standing at one end of a football field. In 11 seconds, she would have already run the length of it. Give her about 11 more seconds, and she would have completed about half the length of the Empire State Building. (Give her another 30 seconds, and she would have the rest of that covered, too.)
Those times—100 meters in 11.22 seconds; 200 meters in 22.78—are the fifth-fastest times in the world among athletes under the age of 20. Those impressive showings also demolished previous school records. Her time of 7.41 seconds in the 60-meter indoor event ranks as third best in program history.
“I like running because it really teaches you who you are, what you’re about,” Gray says. “I’ve always been athletic, but through running I’ve learned I’m focused and self-determined. I’m very determined in everything that I do.”
That determination has earned her some impressive accolades in her first year at UTA. Now a sophomore, the nursing major was the Sun Belt Conference Indoor Freshman of the Year in 2022, making her the second woman ever to receive the honor in UTA history and the third track and field athlete overall.
Over the summer, Gray was selected to run with Team USA at the 2022 U20 Track and Field World Championships in Cali, Colombia. Running the 4x100 relay, she and her teammates took home silver in the event, coming in just one second behind the first-place finishers, Team Jamaica.
“I don’t want to put too much pressure on myself, but it’s hard not to after doing all that in my first year,” she says. “I don’t want people to be like, ‘That’s all she has.’ I can still do more!”
Gray says her plan to keep improving in her sport is to do what she has always done: Focus on practice, be persistent, and work hard no matter what.
“Any time I have a minor setback, I know it’s going to be a major comeback,” she says. “I just need to get out there and run—every day, every day, every day. Success doesn’t just happen to you. You have to find it in yourself.”
