'Grandma' Darrielle Has Aged Gracefully

Senior Darrielle McQueen will graduate Saturday with a degree in Health & Human Performance.

'Grandma' Darrielle Has Aged Gracefully

Friday, May 4, 2018 | Track and Field, Chris Harry

UF senior Darrielle McQueen graduates Saturday and hopes her coming final weeks as a Gator will bring big things (and PRs) in the long and triple jump.

By: Chris Harry, Senior Writer

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — When she first arrived at Florida as a freshman, Darrielle McQueen was hard on herself when it came to results in the jump pit. It ate away at McQueen when she did not perform to expectations, but along the way she figured out to focus as much on the "why" as the "what."

McQueen came to UF as something of a perfectionist.

She'll go out as very much a realist.

"I was very critical of myself, but I've come to learn along my journey the last four years as a student-athlete that doing something — hitting that big mark in your event — or getting the performance you want does not mean you have to be perfect," McQueen said. "I've learned patience. I've learned about looking at the big picture. But I'm still that someone who competes with a lot of energy, a lot of heart, and let's those things spill over into all the other areas."

Call it coming of age, or maturation, but McQueen, a 10-time All-American in the long and triple jump events, has found a wisdom that some may see as beyond her years. Indeed, some teammates actually infer that. That's why they call her "Grandma."

Though she's 22, McQueen "acts like she's 35," according to UF assistant coach Nic Petersen.

"She's the home body, the one who doesn't go out and wants everyone to stay in and hang out," Petersen said. "At the same time, she's the motherly one, too. 'Do you have your spikes? Do you have the right uniform?' She's that person on the team, as well."

An "old soul," says teammate and fellow jumper Yanis David.

"She wants to help you make good choices," David said. "She's always there when you need her there … and sometimes when you don't."

That last remark was accompanied big smile and laugh.

That's what McQueen does. She engenders smiles, all the while being all about the work; and the team. McQueen is a bright and bubbly light for head coach Mike Holloway's program. He saw those traits, as well as her potential, while she was starring at Tallahassee North Florida Christian and wanted to cover them in orange and blue.

"I realized during the recruiting process that Darrielle was just a first-class human being and that was the major reason I wanted her to be a part of this program," Holloway said. "I knew she was athletic. I knew she could do some things on the track that would help us get better. But I also knew she brought an unbelievable element to the track and field community, as a far as her character, her poise, her confidence, her spirituality. She was just an all-around great person."

Darrielle McQueen even smiles mid-jump, as shown here at the 2017 NCAA Championships at Eugene, Ore.

And she's now in the home stretch of what she hopes is an all-around great ending to her UF career, a run that starts with commencement ceremonies Saturday (and a degree in Health & Human Performance), then picks up steam at the Southeastern Conference Outdoor Championships next week at Knoxville, Tenn., followed by the NCAA Championship meet later this month (with regionals in Tampa and nationals in Eugene, Ore.).

"Can't believe it," McQueen said. "It's like one day I woke up and it's almost over."

At the NCAA Indoor Championships, McQueen placed sixth in the long jump, giving the Gators three pivotal points that allowed UF to edge out juggernaut Oregon for fourth place in the meet and put the Florida women on the post-meet podium — reserved for the top four teams — for the first time since 2015. The Gators have not climbed the podium at NCAA Outdoors since 2014, so the goal for McQueen and her teammates is to keep the trajectory headed in the same direction. In her perfect ending, that would include eclipsing 22 feet for the first time in the long jump.

With her jump of 21 feet, 5.5 inches (a quarter-inch off her personal best) at the National Relay Championships at Arkansas last week, she's getting close.

"She was mad. She thought she should have done better; thought there was more there," Petersen said. "If she doesn't jump 22 feet by the end of the year, she's going to be disappointed. Fair or unfair, that's one of her stubborn traits and part of her personality that has driven us all nuts because she does so many good things — yet she's never happy. But that's also part of her that has really matured, especially this year."

Maybe it's a "Grandma" thing.

Or a Florida thing.

That's Darrielle McQueen snapping a team selfie during the Pepsi Florida Relays in March.

Face it, Gators track and field has hoisted a lot of hardware lately, most of it on the men's side. With that success, however, comes expectations. Truth be told, McQueen faces stiff competition daily from David, who has the team's best jumps this season (21 feet, 11.5 inches in the long jump; 46-4.25 in the triple), and next week will be sharing the pit with Georgia and the deepest group of jumpers in the nation.

Holloway's expectations are more simple.

"Just to do her best," he said. "I want her to leave on a high note, but I'm not going to put any numbers on it. I want to see Darrielle walk off the track smiling. Then I will know she's pleased. She's never going to be satisfied, but if I see her smiling I'll know she'll feel like she did her best."

Added Petersen: "Whatever happens the next few weeks— and I truly believe she's going to finish unbelievably strong — Darrielle is going to go down as one of the all-time greats here."

Translation: You don't always have to win a championship to be a champion.

#DidYouKnow: @FlightSchool_7's combined improvement in the horizontal jumps at UF is 5?? feet, 9.75 inches

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HS - 19-0.25 ????

???? ???? - 44-7.75
HS - 41-3.75 ???? pic.twitter.com/y3wlCvWcsg
— Gators Track and Field & Cross Country (@GatorsTF) April 25, 2018

Earlier this week, McQueen was doing something she rarely does: scrolling social media. While checking out Twitter, she ran across a post from the UF track and field account that showed (in feet and inches) just how much McQueen had improved in her jumps since her freshman year, thus putting plain context to the UF's coaches' charge of personal improvement. The numbers hit her unlike any time before.

The nearly 2 1/2 feet since her best jump in high school was symbolic of how much she'd developed.

As for the growth as person? That's quantified by those who know her.

"I wish I had 400 Darrielle McQueens," Petersen said.

But the one will do.

"If I can look at myself in the mirror and see progress — and I've made a lot of progress during my four years here —that's something to hold my head up high about and know that I've had a successful career," McQueen said. "Yes, that'll make me happy."