Nansemond River High School senior track and field star Kara Lyles first showed signs of her impressive strength when she was just a toddler. Now, that strength is likely to carry her to a Division I college.

She committed to attend and compete for the University of South Carolina during a signing ceremony at Nansemond River this past week that included a crowd of teammates, friends, family members and coaches.

“It means a lot,” Lyles said of the commitment. “South Carolina was one of my dream schools.”

She said it was probably her sophomore year when she started thinking about USC, and she remembered thinking it is in the Southeastern Conference.

“That’s the top, top, top conference,” she said. “I was like, ‘I’ll have to work hard to get there.’ So, I didn’t know if I was going to be able to do it or not, but I believe and trust in God.”

Her parents, who were on hand for the signing, were pleased with her achievement.

Her mother, Fonda Lyles, said, “To see your kid work hard at something and then actually achieve what she desired to do is awesome, and I give God the glory, because He’s really just put her in the right situations at the right time and put the right people in front of her and had her going to the right track meets.”

Kara Lyles said she realized she had a gift as a sophomore, when she began working with Nansemond River coach Justin Byron in earnest.

Her parents were likely convinced of it a bit earlier, though. Her mother said when Kara was 2 or 3, she would do anything she could to help, including carrying heavy groceries.

“She would have literally five pounds of sugar in one hand and then a jug of milk,” Fonda Lyles said. “And I’m coming back to get the stuff, and I’m like, ‘Hey, stop, you’re going to hurt yourself.’”

She never did, though.

Her father, Christopher Lyles, recalled watching a local Pop Warner football team with Kara when she was young.

“They didn’t win a game that year, and Kara was like, ‘I can do that.’ And so the next year I went out there to help them coach, and we started her at running back,” he said. “Basically, the only thing we would do is tell her, ‘Go right,’ or ‘Go left,’ and we would pitch the ball to her, and she would score almost every time. And we went undefeated that year.”

Lyles went on three official college visits for track and field, evaluating the University of Mississippi, East Carolina University and USC.

“South Carolina seemed like it fit,” she said. “The campus is nice, the coaches are cool, academically it’s a strong school.”

She plans to major in exercise science and use that degree to go to physical therapy school.

Athletically, she will be competing in multi-event competitions. Her activities will include the shot put, high jump, long jump, javelin throw, 100-meter hurdles, 200-meter dash and 800-meter run.

Lyles said her partial scholarship covers much of her college costs, and it could cover even more if she further improves her marks and times in her senior season.