Nansemond River High School junior Zakiya Rashid used the recent Southeastern Invitational to continue making her mark on the world of Virginia track and field.

She did so primarily through the shot put event, placing first with a throw of 39-feet-2.25-inches, a new indoor personal record.

But she also proved impressive in the 55-meter hurdles, placing eighth with a time of 9.07 seconds, a new school record.

For these accomplishments, Rashid was nominated and won the title of Duke Automotive-Suffolk News-Herald Player of the Week.

“Great performance by Zakiya Rashid,” Warriors coach Justin Byron said. “She has really worked hard to be one of the best shot putters in the state.”

Rashid was already competitive in the state with the Virginia High School League’s old alignment. Now with the field spread out over six classifications, Byron said, “She’s favored to win the 4A state championship.”

But the coach added, “The good thing about Zakiya is she’s not really interested if she’s favored to win or not.”

She is still looking to top her outdoor personal record in the shot put, 41-feet-5-inches, and her goal is to go way beyond that.

By the end of indoor season, “I would like to be at around 47 (feet),” she said. “I want to own the conference, regional and state titles for shot put.”

Byron was even more impressed by how she did in the hurdles at the invitational, competing in the event for the first time after only five practices.

He said having a thrower who can compete like she does in the 55 hurdles is an anomaly. He’s had other coaches come to him and say, “Man, what have you got that girl doing hurdles for? You’re going to hurt her.”

“For the 55 hurdles, I’d like to be maybe like around 8.8 (seconds),” Rashid said, in reference to the end of indoor season.

She is also developing quickly as a sprinter.

“She’s actually a little ahead of where I thought she would be on the running side,” Byron said.

This is quite a switch from when she started with track and field team, insisting she was only a field athlete, restricting herself solely to throws.

“She thought running was ridiculous,” Byron said. “She didn’t even want to warm up.”

Now she has confidence in her running ability, and Byron said not to be shocked if she runs on the 4×100-meter or 4×200-meter relay team at the state meet.

“With her athleticism, she’s probably going to be one of the highest recruited track and field athletes to come out of Nansemond River, just because she’s so versatile,” Byron said.

Her versatility has spread past simply competing.

“She’s actually taking a coaching role in coaching our younger shot putters,” Byron said. “If you look where Nansemond River is in the conference, we are in a position where we have the number one, three, four, five and seven (shot putters) in the conference, and that’s just a reflection of her hard work.”

Rashid said has been a new role that has been both challenging and positive.

“My communication skills, they’re not great, but I think I can get my point across to the other teammates,” she said.

She made a point of thanking “my teammates for supporting me,” and also highlighted her throwing coach, James Broderick. “He coaches at another high school, but he still takes time out to help me.”