The First Academy's Gianna Landri sprints into record books this summer

Before Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls of the ’90s went on a run of pure domination that saw them terrorize the NBA for the better part of a decade, it was the Detroit Pistons who were the bad boys on the block, having eliminated Jordan’s Bulls from the playoffs in the Eastern Conference Semifinals in the 1987-88 season and Eastern Conference Finals in the 1988-89 and 1989-90 seasons — Detroit also claimed the NBA championship in those two seasons. 

Like many NBA teams before and since, Chicago went up against the best in the league and gained an accurate measurement of how good a team it was, with each series loss providing lessons and motivation the Bulls used to develop into the juggernaut they became.  In many ways, being pitted against the Pistons in the late ’80s is what created the Jordan-era dynasty because it gave the Bulls an up-close and detailed look at what a championship-winning team looked like. 

The Bulls’ journey from championship-hunters to dynasty defenders isn’t unique to them; it’s a path many teams and athletes at all levels have taken to reach the pinnacle of their respective sports. It’s a path, however, that begins with an age-old sports saying with a modern twist: To be the best, you have to beat the best. To beat the best, you have to be on the field against them. 

For The First Academy’s Gianna Landri, her path to becoming the best on the sprinter’s blocks continued this summer as she followed the path Jordan’s Bulls and countless others took in pursuit of their sports’ highest peaks by pitting herself against the state’s best sprinters at the Florida Youth Running Association Middle School State Track & Field Championship and the country’s best at the New Balance Outdoor Track & Field National Championship, and getting an accurate measurement of just how fast she is.

“It was definitely an eye-opening experience for me to compete at the highest level this summer because I knew I was fast, but I didn’t completely understand what I was capable of,” Landri said. “When I ran my first 100-meter sprint at nationals, that’s when I thought to myself, ‘OK, I’m actually sort of quick.’” 

Courtesy photo

Against the nation’s top middle school-aged 100-meter dash runners, Landri posted a personal-best time of 12.44 — which is the third-best time ever posted by a TFA sprinter — and finished as the 14th fastest middle school 100-meter sprinter. 

After seeing she belonged in the conversation among the nation’s fastest middle school sprinters, a funny thing began to happen. Landri didn’t sit back and soak in the spoils of her triumph. No, in fact, she did quite the opposite; she gained confidence in her abilities to compete at the highest level and pushed herself beyond anything she’s ever accomplished on a track before. Not only did Landri learn she belonged at this level, but she also began to see the fruits of her hard work and how her dedication to her craft was what put her in this position.

“Then when I ran the 400-meter dash, I was in shock because if I had told myself at the beginning of the year that I’d be running any time in the 56-second range, I wouldn’t have believed it,” she said. “I would have been like, ‘There’s no way I’m going to improve from a 59-second 400 to 56 seconds.’ But I did, I just ran like crazy that race.” 

Against the nation’s top middle school-aged 400-meter dash runners, Landri posted a personal-best time of 56.77— which topped Landri’s previous TFA-best time in the event, setting a new school record — and finished as the ninth fastest middle school 400 sprinter. 

Landri, with the taste of the highest-level competition she’s ever participated in fresh on her tongue, wasn’t done pushing herself at the national meet hosted by the University of Pennsylvania at Franklin Field, the oldest college stadium in the country. She had one more bite at the apple, the 200-meter dash, and she made sure to make it count.

“What was the craziest thing was my times in the 200, I set back-to-back personal bests; I didn’t know how I did that,” Landri said. “My reaction when I ran 24.94 in the prelims, was like, ‘Oh, there’s no way I’m running any faster than this.’ And then in the final, I ran it in 24.37 seconds and I couldn’t believe it, it was insane.”

Again, against the nation’s top middle school-aged 200-meter dash runners, Landri posted not one but two personal-best times — the faster of which became the second-best time ever posted by a TFA sprinter in the event — and finished as the fifth fastest middle school 200-meter sprinter.

Just as Jordan’s Bulls developed into a championship team because of the competition, Landri’s experience competing at the national level is now a source for motivation during off-season preparations.

“Nationals was amazing,” Landri said. “Running at this competitive of a level has 100% pushed me to get better, everybody competing at that level pushes each other to compete and get better,” Landri said. “The fact that everyone at that level understands the mindset needed to get there, gives us all a shared feeling and experience.”

Despite Landri’s experience being one that is mostly contained within her own mind, the type of growth that happens in a breakthrough moment is hard to miss from the outside looking in, especially for a proud mom. 

“I just don’t think she understood what she was capable of,” said Alyissa Landri, Gianna Landri’s mother. “When you’re consistently running against a certain level of competition and then you enter a national field … and you get to race against the best in the country, that level of competition just has a leveling-up effect on you. From a parent’s point of view, I saw that happen to Gianna at nationals.”