- April 21, 2026
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Every Friday before a track-and-field meet, Dr. Phillips Elementary kindergartner and runner for CDR Elite Track Club Shawn Crawford plants himself in front of the television.
On the TV screen flashes Usain Bolt, who has won eight gold medals and holds the world record in the 100M of 9.58 seconds. He reached a top speed of 27 mph before retiring from world competitions in 2017.
The 5-year-old Shawn looks up to the fastest man alive.
“My son thinks he can grow up to be Usain Bolt,” Donna Murray, Shawn’s mom said. “We always tell him that you are not a Bolt, you’re a Crawford, but you definitely can be Usain Bolt. … We put on any videos we can find of him. Shawn looks at it, studies it, and that gives him the ammo he needs to take off the next day when he does race.”
Even at 5 years old, Shawn already is making a name for himself in the track community. He runs similar times as 8-year-olds, consistently medals at his meets and has climbed the rankings.
According to MileSplit, Shawn is ranked No. 1 in Florida in the 200M dash with his time of 36.47 seconds and No. 4 in the country, while racing in the 6U age group. He also is ranked No. 2 in Florida and No. 6 in the country for his personal record of 17.34 seconds in the 100M.
His journey began just two months ago, at his first meet Saturday, Feb. 14.
Shawn’s first track meet began with the field events. He tried the long jump, simply to see how he would do, and all of a sudden, his coach Darnell Lindsey approached Shawn’s parents with wonderful news — he won first place.
Murray questioned it. She continued to ask, “Are you sure?”
Shawn only had practiced it once before, so it was shocking. It was the perfect start to the day.
When Shawn entered the 100M, he went straight to the finals because of his time in practice, but it was nerve-wracking. During practices, he always had the problem of looking back when he was running or looking to the side. Lindsey constantly reminded him to always look forward.
Standing on the sidelines, Murray and Shawn’s dad, Michael Crawford, anxiously waited to see how their son would respond. They thought the young athlete would look everywhere.
He didn’t.
“All of a sudden, Shawn stepped on the track, and we’ve never seen him zone in like this,” Murray said. “This boy didn’t even turn right, left or back. He just kept looking straight, and when he won gold, I cried. Dad came running down from the bleachers saying, ‘Did you cry? Did you see him?’ He was a whole new kid, and he was locked in.”
They still watch the video to this day, and it continues to bring the same level of impressment from its initial moment. Shawn shocks his parents every day. He’s a headstrong individual, and the kindergartner made the Honor Roll last semester while handling two practices per week and track meets on Saturdays.
But the track meets are where he truly shines.
After Shawn took gold in the 100M, he ran the 200M and got the same result. He was locked in running and continued to have his eyes fixed on the path in front of him.
“That day, he walked away with three gold medals,” Murray said. “I think he was like, ‘This is it for me; this is my sport.’ Football didn’t work, so now it’s track, and I think he felt very proud of himself.”
At CDR Elite’s two-hour practices Monday and Wednesdays, Shawn’s smile is shining constantly. While warming up, he behaves as any young child, running around with his friends and playing. But once his coaches blow the whistle, Shawn snaps into focus. His eyes reflect a sense of purpose. He looks forward, head down, pushing himself as he sprints on the sidewalk of McCoy Community Park.
In just a few short months of training, Shawn has grown. Rather than coming to practice and crying if he fell short or felt the pains of pushing the body to a new limit, he comes ready to train. The shift was a product of Lindsey reminding Shawn that athletes can’t come to practice and cry. It isn’t possible to push yourself and cry at the same time.
“He told Shawn that being as he’s only 5, he’s not going to push him as much, but your mind has to be in it,” Murray said. “You have to have a good mentality to come out here and do it yourself.”
What helps Shawn push himself is being able to compete alongside his two older sisters, Aria and Alaya Crawford, who also are a part of the track club and have been finding their own footing on the pavement.
Michael Crawford’s family is big on track. The sport always has been intertwined with their lives, and Murray believes that’s where her three kids picked up their talent. Michael Crawford ran track in high school and was featured in his local paper in New York for running the 4x100M relay in 43.18 seconds.
He always wanted his kids to join track but never wanted to force it on them. Shawn used to play football for the West Orlando Jags for three years, but he didn’t excel in it and frequently would be upset. Aria, 9, and Alaya, 8, did cheer for four years, but once they said they no longer wanted to participate in that sport, Michael Crawford said it was time for track.
Murray said when they found CDR, she told her kids to please have fun with it. If it wasn’t their sport, that was OK.
“Alaya actually surprised us,” Murray said. “I cried at her first track meet when she brought in gold for the 400M. … She executed it in the way where it was in a mechanical, mathematical way.”
Just like Shawn, the girls enjoy watching Olympians before track meets to replicate their body movements and mechanics. Each of the kids has picked his or her favorite competitions. Aria has long legs and has fallen in love with the long jump and longer distances. Alaya realized she didn’t like longer distances and would rather sprint in the 100M and 60M. Shawn also enjoys the quicker races, especially the 100M and 200M.
At practice, the three push one another constantly.
“You’ll hear Shawn saying, ‘Come on Alaya, pick it up,’” Murray said. “He’s so fast that he runs the same time as an 8-year-old, and because he has a sister to push him, he’s able to run the same time she’s running.”
The core of CDR is to develop young athletes and shape them into young stars while also building that family environment. They are pushed at practices, and their coaches run alongside the athletes, sending not only words of encouragement but also motivation and working toward the bigger picture outside of training.
Shawn is training for the Junior Olympics.
He is turning 6 Friday, May 1, and the Junior Olympics begin Saturday, June 6, at Olympia High and run until August. Shawn will have to run against 7- and 8-year-olds and must place in the top 16 at the first qualifiers and then in the top nine in the district qualifiers. Every day, he is pushing himself toward that goal. One stride at a time, he’s determined to achieve an incredible feat for someone his age.
“If he doesn’t make the AAU Junior Olympics this year, he will be winning it next year,” Murray said. “Hands-down.”
