The Grind, presented by Bank of Clarendon: Thomas Sumter's Burnside wraps up high school career with plenty of hardware

When Thomas Sumter's Hannah Burnside first came out to run track as a middle-schooler, head coach Rob Coursey knew he was getting a great athlete, but he had no idea what the next six years had in store.

Rob had already coached Hannah's older brother, Russell. While she waited for her brother to run at meets, she sometimes went over to the hurdles and cleared a few.

"She wasn't even involved with track yet, and she jumped one of the boys high hurdles," Rob said. "She kinda cut her teeth watching her older brother. Hannah is one of those kids where she's going to try to beat you any way she can."

Once she fully committed to the sport in eighth grade after a COVID-shortened spring as a seventh-grader, Hannah became a tone-setter at TSA. She became a state champion in her first season and leaves TSA with 10 individual state titles and one more in the relays. Perhaps more importantly, she's been a shining light for others to follow, always willing to lend a bit of advice to the younger athletes.

"It's been really a blessing. There isn't an event she hasn't done," Rob said. "The girls look up to her, she was able to give them insight, so it was like having a secondary coach. The experience she has is unbelievable."

SETTING A HIGH BAR

Hannah first came to Thomas Sumter in the sixth grade but didn't fully dive into track until she hit the eighth grade. After watching her brother and other athletes jumping hurdles for a couple of years, she wanted to give it a shot.

"I jumped over a couple, and I was like, 'OK, it's a little scary, but I got it,'" she said. "I jumped them, and I did really good, and I was like, 'Oh, OK, maybe I can do this.'"

The task of learning hurdles was a little tougher at TSA because they don't have a formal track to practice on. Back then, they didn't even have a full set of hurdles.

"We didn't have hurdles or anything, so it wasn't like I could just go practice whatever I wanted. I kind of just had to go to the meet and learn there," Hannah said. "My mom actually ended up buying me a couple hurdles at home, so I would go out and practice with my dog. I'd make her jump hurdles with me."

While she may have had more resources at other schools, Hannah learned to adjust on the fly to whatever she had available.

"Everything was a first for me," she said. "I mean, we don't have a track, so running on a track for the first time, that was a first. I didn't get spikes till eighth grade, so seventh grade, I was kind of just in tennis shoes. I didn't even have a jersey, so it was just like shorts and Thomas Sumter T-shirt. I didn't get out of blocks until like ninth grade. Everything was a first, so I was used to just like rolling with what was given to me."

From Day 1, she was ready to work. Looking back, she jokingly admits she was maybe a little too ready.

"People call it a try-hard. Yes, maybe I was a try-hard in eighth grade. I will admit that," Hannah said. "But I realized I was good."

Hannah's training regimen at TSA has always included a mix of short, middle and long distance. Once Rob saw the way she worked with the actual hurdles, he knew she'd be a natural.

"They always say that the worst race in the world is the 400, but it's even worse with hurdles in the way," Rob joked. "It never affected Hannah because she was in such fantastic shape with the training she did. We never had to worry about her gassing out."

At that point, Hannah ran freely. She wasn't overly concerned with her actual times; she just wanted to win races.

"To be honest, in eighth grade, I could care less about a PR. If I won the race, it was a win," Hannah said. "When Coach Rob would come and be like, 'You got a PR,' and he was like super excited, I was like, 'Oh, maybe I should actually be excited about this.'"

One person pushed Hannah more than anyone: Reese Distelzweig. Reese won the SCISA 2A state title in cross country the previous fall and always made sure her best friend kept up with her in every race.

"I couldn't slack off because she'd be like, 'OK, you've gotta keep running with me.' And if I fall behind, she's like, 'What are you doing? Where are you at? Stick with me.' She always had it to a T," Hannah said of Reese. "She really was the one who paced me through races and held me accountable."

When Hannah ran in her first state meet, Reese was right beside her. They ran the 400m dash together and finished back to back. Hannah took home first in 1:04.87, while Reese was on her heels, crossing the finish line in 1:06.11.

"I think it was just the fact that she didn't want to lose to Reese," Rob said of what drove Hannah to claim that first championship. "Reese had her own thing going on, winning cross and having state titles with Bella (Crowe) and Aubrey Stoddard. I think Hannah wanted to get hers."

Hannah had four top five finishes that day, finishing second in the 3,200m run, fifth in the 1,600m run - three spots behind Reese - and fourth in the 400m hurdles. That set the bar for a stellar high school career over the next four years.

HUNGER TO IMPROVE

That state championship opened a lot of eyes for the statewide track community. It was the first time that Hannah started to feel a little bit of pressure to succeed.

"As an eighth-grader, I didn't care about anything. I was just like, 'Let me win this race. Let me do the best I can. If I don't win, I'm in eighth grade, who cares? Nobody's watching me,'" she said. "After state, I guess Coach Rob was hit up by this college, and he (told them) actually she's in eighth grade, and I was like, 'Wait, people are watching me, maybe I should be more caring.'"

Hannah was ready to put in the work. She spent hours on YouTube watching clips of hurdlers, trying to hone her technique. After not caring about times as a middle-schooler, she quickly became obsessed.

"Sometimes kids will go on the internet and see prettier people, and they're like, 'Oh, I wish I was like that.' That was me, but for track," Hannah said. "I'd see other people's times, and I was like, dang I'm slow or like I need to get better. But you can't really do anything but your best, so if I didn't PR (get a personal record) that meet, the goal was to PR the next meet. If I didn't, I wasn't going to beat myself up over it. I knew eventually, if I tried hard enough and gave 110 % of my effort, I would get there. I wasn't too stressed, but of course pressure was there."

Rob knew Hannah had a world of potential, but he didn't feel the need to hound her to improve.

"She was self-driven; you didn't really have to push her," Rob said. "Once she set her mind to it, she just did it. She worked hard every day in practice, she worked hard in every single race. Her practice mode and her race mode, you couldn't really tell the difference. She worked just as hard in practice as she did in meets."

Throughout high school, Hannah also realized the benefits of Thomas Sumter's unconventional track facilities. She wasn't complaining about shin splints as much as other runners because she had the chance to run on soft grass every day. Rob always tried to make sure his athletes realized the benefits, and they were always excited when meet day came around.

"I really think that was a benefit. Running on a grass track, it was work to get it done, but we did not have the shin splint issues we had prior years when we were running on a concrete track, we didn't have the injuries," Rob said. "Having a grass track was beneficial when we would show up a Spring Valley, Lugoff, CIU (Columbia International), it was like Christmas morning."

Over the next four years, Hannah kept raising the bar. She had three individual school records and one relay record, though Malayia English was able to steal the 400m record this spring. As a freshman, Hannah won two more state titles, claiming wins in the 400m dash and 400m hurdles. She won the 400m dash again a year later. As a junior, she won the 100m hurdles, the 400m hurdles and ran a leg on the first-place 4x100 team, helping to propel the team to a second-place finish overall. All of that success led into her senior year this spring.

LAST RIDE AT TSA

Hannah has never been overly nervous during meets, but she felt some added pressure when she lined up for her final state meet at Orangeburg Prep on May 2.

"This is it; it's over after this. If I don't give it my all, if I don't win, there's no other chance in high school to do that," she said.

The day did not start as planned. She tripped over a couple of hurdles during warmups, a rare occurrence for the star hurdler. When she ran the 100m hurdles, she clipped another during the actual race and had to settle for second place with a time of 17.19. After that, the skies opened up. They had a weather delay thanks to rain and lightning that stopped the meet for about an hour.

When she came back, Hannah had to run the 400m hurdles and claimed her 10th and final individual title with a new school record time of 1:06.73, breathing a sigh of relief in the process.

"I was definitely scared, but once I got it, I was like, 'OK, that's all I wanted.' For my senior year, just give me one good win in state; let me finish it off (with a) cherry on top," Hannah said. "And I honestly, I have no words. I was so happy. And yes, I've done it time and time again, but it's always like a new feeling, especially hitting those PRs. It always makes you feel a little better, a little more happy."

That sigh of relief didn't last long, as she had to go straight into the 800m run. Normally there is a bit of a gap between the races, but with one unscheduled delay in the mix, they went straight to the next race.

"That delay did probably cost me what I could have done in the 800," she admitted. "The guy shooting the gun, he's like, 'Weren't you like just here?' I think they tried to give me a little bit of a breath, and I was like, 'Just shoot the gun, it is what it is. I know you've got to get this going.'"

Hannah took fifth in that race with a time of 3:21.81. She added a fourth-place finish in the 400m dash. While it wasn't the perfect fairy tale ending, Hannah was more than happy with her final race.

"It was really sad; I definitely had a couple tears, but I mean, when it was over - maybe Coach Rob would say I could have done better, which he always does - but at the end of the day, I think I gave it my all, and I'm happy with the result," she said. "I can't be upset about the past."

IMPACT AT THOMAS SUMTER

While Rob has enjoyed every second of Hannah's success on the track, he's also thankful for how much she feeds into the athletes coming up behind her. With a smaller school like Thomas Sumter, the varsity athletes are always connected to the elementary school kids who look to follow in their footsteps one day, and Hannah has always been a perfect role model.

"The kids that are in second, third, fourth grade, they know who these kids are. They know Hannah Burnside," Rob said. "You get to see these kids run, and it's neat to see them come through."

One of those elementary school kids is Gracie Lemmon, a 9-year-old Hannah babysits and drives home from track practices.

"She is the sweetest girl ever, and oh my gosh, that girl is fast," Hannah said.

Hannah has made a lasting impact on Gracie during their time together.

"I want to run just like her," Gracie said.

Gracie did the eight-week Sumter Speed running program in the fall and practiced with the TSA track team this spring. Hannah has been a mentor and close friend throughout the process. Gracie's mom, Michelle, is glad to have someone as kind and dedicated as Hannah to set an example for all of her children.

"It's truly a gift," Michelle said of Hannah being a part of their lives. "Hannah is beautiful inside and out. My kids can learn just watching her mindset of dedication and strength."

With mentorship from Hannah, Rob expects Gracie to follow in her footsteps.

"I would never try to compare two athletes as the next Aubrey or the next Bella or Billy Colquitt, I would say that Gracie is going to do some amazing things," Rob said. "She probably will beat most of Hannah's records."

And Hannah welcomes any and all athletes who have a chance to chase down her records. Along with her 400m hurdles record she set again at state, Hannah has the 100m hurdles record of 16.69, which she set this spring, and ran with Malayia, Bayleigh Donhauser and Ronia Sanders on the record-setting 4x100 team with a mark of 51.45.

"Honestly, I encourage girls to break them," Hannah said. "Actually, I think Malayia English just recently broke the 400 record, which I held, and I was like, 'Girl, go for it.' If you can break it, if you are better than me, be better than me. Yes, I have a couple records, I'm very proud of them, but why not have the team be even better than they are now? If people are breaking my records, that means the team is getting faster. I'm all for it."

Hannah will now set off for USC Beaufort, where she'll run the hurdles and try to chase a new set of records.

"I can't wait to see it. She's going to make me look like the worst coach in the country after what she does there," Rob joked. "I think she's going to flourish there. They're getting an amazing young lady, and I think we just scratched the surface with her ability. I can see her doing some really cool things down there. I don't know what their school record is, but it's in jeopardy as long as she's on the track."

But Thomas Sumter will always carry a special place in her heart after seven special years.

"They like to say that this is more of family and you're gonna get a closer experience, and I've definitely experienced that through sports," Hannah said. "I would recommend to anyone, if you want to build closer relationships with people, be more involved in your school, then do sports. You don't have to be good; you can always get better. I definitely didn't start off amazing and perfect. I had to get where I am now, but as long as you try, you're going to build those relationships."