This NC high school track and field star takes the next step toward her Olympic dream

Cheyla Scott doesn’t seem familiar with the concept of disadvantage.

When she was 8 years old, she challenged her 14-year-old sister Chanin, a standout athlete at Charlotte Latin, in basketball.

And this spring, frequently lacking high jump competition from girls in meets, she competed against the boys, who typically leap 6-to-10 inches higher than the girls. Cheyla often beat the boys.

“I was the youngest, and I was raised on competition,” said Scott, 16, a rising senior at Butler High School.

Already with the nation’s best high jump by a high school athlete this school year, she is widening her field of competition. Later this week, she heads to the Nike Nationals at the University of Oregon, and will stay in Oregon for the USA Track and Field Under-20 Nationals a few days later.

“I feel confident,” Scott said, stretching one morning recently after taking a few practice jumps at Butler High. “But that’s how I always feel.”

The competitive spirit runs deep in the family.

Her mother, Tanya Filmore-Scott, won a 400-meter state championship in the 1980s at Garinger High, and excelled in the sport at S.C. State.

Chanin Scott took her basketball talents to Georgia Tech and later to N.C. A&T, earning all-conference honors.

And brother Peyton Scott is a football standout at Butler with interest from several FBS schools.

“I used to play basketball against Chanin, but with the age difference, I couldn’t keep up with her very well,” Cheyla admitted. “She used to say that she wished we were closer in age, because it would’ve been more fun.”

That was the case during the recent spring track and field season, when Cheyla’s competitive spirit turned into an asset for the boys’ team at Butler.

“We’d get to meets, and there wouldn’t be anyone to compete against,” said Butler track and field coach Mark Sanders, who ran on the same Garinger track team as Filmore-Scott. “So she would jump at the same time as the boys.”

Cheyla occasionally won. And, Sanders said, she made the Butler boys high jumpers improve. One of those other high jumpers? Her brother, Peyton.

“When we jumped, he wouldn’t want me to beat him,” Cheyla said. “I’d jump 5-10, and he’d say, ‘OK, now I’ve got to jump 5-10.’ ”

Sanders said that as the season went on, Peyton Sanders and Butler’s other boys high jumpers got better.

“They had Cheyla pushing them,” he said.

Sanders said Cheyla Scott is special.

“I’ve been doing this 25 years, and she’s the best overall athlete I’ve seen come through,” he said.

Scott took up long jumping during the recent season, and despite a lack of experience, she finished second in the 4A state meet last month.

Sanders said Scott’s best events might be the sprints — in which she doesn’t compete.

“She used to be No. 1 in the nation at 100 and 200 meters when she was younger,” Sanders said. “She doesn’t want to run, though. That’s why she jumps.”

Scott, now 6-1, said she grew about 5 inches a few years ago.

“I’m too tall for that sprinting now,” she said. “I don’t want any part of that. I concentrate on jumping.”

And the high jump is her specialty. After consistently reaching 5-10 in meets this spring, she leaped into the national spotlight in the 4A regional meet at Hough High, when she jumped 6-2. The next-best jump this season is 6-¾, by JaiCleonna Gero-Hart of Emerald Ridge (Wash.) High.

“Now I’m looking to do better,” she said.

Her mother, Tanya, said Cheyla will qualify for the World Championships if she can clear 6-4 in either of the meets in Oregon.

Sanders said Scott’s success is due in no small part to a strong work ethic.

“She’s always the first one on the line, waiting to take her turn,” he said. “If we’re running, she’s always the first one ready to start the next run. She needs competition.”

Scott said it was tough during the recent high school season, because there was little competition on the girls’ side.

“At 5-2 or 5-4, most of the other jumpers were going out,” she said. In the 4A state finals, her winning leap of 5-10 was a half-foot better than the second-place finisher.

“The kind of competition she’ll get in the nationals will help a lot,” her mother said. “she thrives on that.”

This story was originally published June 14, 2022 at 6:00 AM.

Langston Wertz Jr.

The Charlotte Observer

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Langston Wertz Jr. is an award-winning sports journalist who has worked at the Observer since 1988. He’s covered everything from Final Fours and NFL to video games and Britney Spears. Wertz -- a West Charlotte High and UNC grad -- is the rare person who can answer “Charlotte,” when you ask, “What city are you from.” Support my work with a digital subscription