Racine Sun

Nicholas Payne Jr. is quickly making a name for himself as a star athlete.

While the 11-year-old Starbuck Middle School sixth grader plans on playing football in middle school, he has long turned heads on the track, where he is regarded as one of the fastest kids in the country.

"He’s a real hard worker,” his coach and father Nicholas Sr. recently told the Journal Times. “I don’t have to force him to get up and do push-ups or sit-ups. He just does it.”

As a part of the Wisconsin Panthers Track Club, Payne recently came face to face with some of the fastest youths in the country at the Amateur Athletic Union Junior Olympics in North Carolina, Payne Jr advanced to the finals in two separate events, running a 29.95 second 200-meter to earn fifth place and 12.73 in the 100-meter dash, good enough to earn fourth place overall.

Much of it seems to come naturally for Payne, who comes from a family that includes cousin Jimmie Ward, who plays for the San Francisco 49ers in the NFL, and uncle Jordan Payne, who plays for the Racine raiders. Payne Sr. started the Panthers Track Club as a way to help get athletes in shape for football and things have taken off from there with athletes on the team now regularly qualifying for Olympic competition.

In all, the Panthers saw three athletes qualify for the Junior Olympics, with Quinten Jones and Alyanna Moore joining Payne.

“At first it was really hard,” Payne Jr. said of track. “I got more into it, more into it, I kept doing it and then I got into the Olympics. If you don’t practice, you’re not going anywhere; you’ll just stay in the same place.”

Payne Jr. is also a cousin of former NBA player Caron Butler, who after a 14-year career is now an assistant coach for the Miami Heat.