Brandeé Johnson’s combination of dedication and talent continues to be a gateway to extraordinary experiences.

The Nansemond River High School rising senior track and field star left on Thursday for Cali, Colombia, where she will compete as part of the USA World Youth Team in the 2015 IAAF World Youth Championships.

Johnson qualified for this event last week in Lisle, Ill. at the 2015 World Youth Track and Field Trials, which were put on by United States of America Track and Field.

Last year, she represented the U.S. in Nanjing, China for the Second Summer Youth Olympic Games, returning home with a bronze medal in the women’s 200-meter dash.

“There’s a lot of adults that have not traveled to China and South America, and she’s knocked those out before she’s hit her 18th birthday,” Nansemond River coach Justin Byron said.

She punched her ticket to South America with an inspiring performance in the 400-meter hurdles during the trials, where NR rising junior Syaira Richardson also competed in the 400-meter dash.

Johnson’s performance reversed the tone of what had been, for herself, a somewhat lackluster two-day stretch, Bryon said.

First, she competed in the preliminaries for the 100-meter hurdles, taking seventh with a time of 13.88 seconds. The top eight qualified for the finals.

Later on, she took fifth in the finals, finishing in 13.81 seconds, but only the top two had a shot at going to South America.

In between those 100 hurdles races, she competed in the 400-meter hurdles prelims. She had started out at an impressive pace when disaster seemingly struck.

“She hit a hurdle, and she fell in the race,” Byron said.

Johnson’s mother, Aquilla Redding, who was watching amid the cold Illinois weather, said, “She fell so hard my heart dropped.”

But then Johnson “actually got up and finished,” Byron said, and she ended up in seventh with a time of 1:01.00.

“With her falling and then still making it to the finals, I just smile every time I see her,” Redding said, because she knows that any time her daughter is blocked by an obstacle that knocks her down, “she’s going to get back up.”

In the 400 hurdles finals, Johnson ended up running in lane one, which Byron noted is typically designated for the slowest runner in the race and is a difficult location from which to produce a fast time.

“The curve is tighter, which doesn’t give the athlete the ability to really get moving,” he said.

Johnson could not even see her first hurdle due to the location of the scoreboard and the sharpness of the opening turn, Redding said.

Nevertheless, Johnson timed her steps right and came in second with a time of 57.9 seconds.

“It just takes a mental champion to be able to run 58 seconds out of lane one,” Byron said. “It just shows guts and courage and perseverance.”

Syaira Richardson competed in the 400 dash, placing 14th in the prelims.

“For Syaira Richardson, I think it was a really good learning experience,” Byron said. “She needed that experience,” to help her realize that she belongs in the company of the nation’s top 16- and 17-year-olds.

While her time was not good enough to qualify for the finals, “she matched her lifetime best, 55.78 (seconds).”

During the 2014-15 indoor track and field season, Richardson suffered a minor anterior cruciate ligament tear but recovered and has been a star for the Lady Warriors.

“She definitely took the bull by the horns during the outdoor season,” Byron said. “She came back stronger than when she got her hurt.”

Qualifiers for the USA World Youth Team had to report back to Illinois for training camp on July 5. It was close enough to the end of trials that Johnson remained there until leaving for South America on Thursday.

The International Association of Athletics Federations World Youth Championships run July 15-19.