Pearland student competing for 8th time in Junior Olympics

PEARLAND, Texas (FOX 26) - With a stack of medals around her neck, eighth grade student Michaela McCall puts on her shoes and gets ready to join her team for warmups. It’s something she has been doing since she was only five years old.

"The coaches told my mom that she should put me on track, so once I started track, I kept on going,” says McCall. That's exactly what happened. After several different coaches complimented her speed, Michaela was recruited to join Pearland Track Xpress.

“Same tenacity that she has, is the same thing that we saw her that made me approach her parents," says Edmond Ewing, Michaela's head coach. "When she was out here just practicing, running, trying to keep up with her older brother and she was running around with them, keeping up stride for stride.”

“He was observing Michaela chasing her big brother and he was amazed at how Michaela kept up with her brother around the whole track without stopping,” says Michael McCall, Michaela's father.

When Michaela was seven years old, she qualified for the Junior Olympics and has qualified every year since then.

“We are just honored to be the parents to nurture her God-given talent,” says Brenda McCall, Michaela's mother.

Michaela will be running in the 400 meters, 800 meters, 1500 meters and will be the first leg of the 4x800 meter relay. Her goal is to win gold in all her events.

“I just want everyone to know that I am the fastest girl in the whole wide world,” says Michaela with a smile on her face.

“Relax, have fun, compete — just remember to have fun because were all in this together”, says Cedric Lilly, Michaela's other head coach .

The 2018 Junior Olympics is scheduled to take place at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, this weekend and she will be joining 38 of her teammates that also qualified for the competition.