Nia Branham is just 13, but she has already earned two state track records and the Triple Crown and a fifth place in the nation honor in an American Athletic Union (AAU)-sanctioned race for athletes 14 and younger.
Nia, an eighth grader at James Hart School, qualified for the Illinois Elementary School Association’s track competition in spring 2025, claiming first place with a time of 25.9 in the 200-meter race, and first place time of 58.25 in the 400-meter race.
She beat both of those times as an AAU Junior Olympics competitor. She took fifth place at a meet in Houston, Texas, in 2025 with a time of 57.15 in the 400, and 25.48 in the 200.
two of her AAU meet medals. Her favorite races are the 200-
meter and the 400-meter. (Provided photo)
As a seventh grader, Nia also competed in IESA track and took first in both the 200 and 400.
She’ll be back on the track for Hart this spring.
“We have a lot of high hopes for her this year,” teacher/coach Virginia Donahue said.
Nia’s mom, Nona Branham, recognized her daughter’s abilities early on. At Churchill School Nia took part in the Girls on the Run program, coached by Alessa Williamson, as a fifth grader. Nia was out front.
However, when she tried out for the track team at Hart in sixth grade, she didn’t qualify. Branham remembers how upsetting that was “so she grinded over the summer and put in the work” and made the team in seventh grade.
Branham said at that point she got Nia into an AAU USATF club in spring 2023. She continued with that track club for two years.
“I see the growth and potential in her, but she needed the training,” her mom said. She transferred Nia to the Gately Park Athletic Club in Chicago where Raghib Hannah is coaching her.
At the end of the outdoor season 2023, she did qualify for AAU Junior Olympics. In 2024, Nia entered her first national competition at North Carolina A&T University. In 2025, Nia again qualified for an AAU Junior Olympics in Houston, Texas, and won her fifth place standing in the nation in her age group in the 400.
She won the AAU Triple Crown taking first in the 60-meter, 200 and 400 at an AAU Northern Indoor Regional meet in Chicago. Next week she is hoping to earn her second Triple Crown at an AAU race at Eastern Michigan University.
Nia did run cross country for James Hart School and won conference, but she favors the 200 and 400 track races.
She says running for her “it’s a little nerve-wracking because you never want to slow down. Someone could come up from behind you, and you’d lose the race right there. But it feels good when you finish the race and you win and you feel like you accomplished something.”
Her schedule has her at Gately training on average four days a week with sessions lasting two hours or more. Nia has managed to earn outstanding grades. She has a 4.0 GPA and is a member of the National Junior Honor Society at James Hart.
“I think (this schedule) is tough, but in the end it’s all going to pay off in high school and when I get to college,” she said.
Nia is looking forward to her years at Homewood-Flossmoor High School. Her brother Nicholas is a junior running track. Nia and her mom have already talked with the H-F girls track coach about the opportunities that will be open to her.
