Tyler Starling looking to end final year with Palmetto Tigers by winning a state title

PALMETTO, Fla. (WWSB) - This week’s ABC7 Athlete of the Week is Tyler Starling. He’s a senior and star student-athlete on the Palmetto Tigers track & field team.

He’s had a great final season on the high school level. Starling has had many first place finishes, including recently winning a district title in the 110 and 400 hurdles. He finished with times 13.90 and 54.3.

However, he says the biggest satisfaction would be bringing home the ultimate prize. “The one thing that I really, really want is a state title,” Starling said. “So, hopefully on May 8, at UNF, I will be getting a state title.”

Starling has been running track for all four years of his high school tenure. He loves this sport now.

“It’s definitely a lot of mental,” Starling said. “You have to mentally prepare yourself for the race. Going into it, you can’t be too cocky, but you’ve got to be confident in your ability.”

This wasn’t always the case though. “You have to learn how to run,” Starling said. “After that, it kind of felt odd. Obviously, the first time you do something it’s going to be odd.”

His years of hard work are paying off. Starling will be taking his talents to the next level collegiately at King University in Tennessee.

His head coach, Rod Martin tells ABC7 that you couldn’t ask for a better student-athlete to get to coach. “He’s that kid that you never have to worry about doing what he’s supposed to do,” Martin said. “If you tell him to do something, he’s going to do it.”

Starling says he wants to go far in life when it comes to this sport, but he’s also allowing himself to remain present.

“At this point in time, I’m not really sure that I want to go pro. If it happens, it happens. I just want to go to college, live the college life and get a degree.”