But it was her exploits on the track this year that have steered Scally-Tu\u2019i toward an immediate career as a sprinter, determined to speed to the apex of her sport.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have really high standards. I want to go to the Olympics, make the final and be in the top three,\u201d the Tania Dalton Foundation scholar says. <\/p>\n
\u201cI set really big goals but I set them realistically. All I have to do is believe and put in the work and it will happen.\u201d<\/p>\n
Paris Olympic sprinter Zoe Hobbs is her benchmark, and four-time Olympic medallist Dame Valerie Adams is her mentor \u2013 formidable influences shaping her rise.<\/p>\n
Scally-Tu\u2019i, a Year 12 student at Mt Albert Grammar, shattered five New Zealand records last summer \u2013 four of them in a single blistering run in the United States while touring with the NZ Secondary Schools team.<\/p>\n
Kendra Scally-Tu\u2019i with her medals from the Mt SAC Relays in California. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n
Still just 16, she became the fastest Kiwi woman over 200m in four age categories, from U17 to U20, clocking 23.52s at the Mt SAC Relays in Walnut, California. She overcame nerves and a restless flight \u2013 the longest she\u2019d experienced \u2013 to run the race of her life.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t realise I\u2019d set a new record until after the race \u2013 I saw the board but didn\u2019t really process my time,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was such a big jump up from my PB, I was thinking, \u2018Is that even legal?\u2019.\u201d <\/p>\n
Her previous best was 23.74s, set a month earlier. <\/p>\n
\u201cI was expecting a good time because of the track. I just wasn\u2019t expecting it to be that good.\u201d<\/p>\n
At that same meet, Scally-Tu\u2019i ran her fastest time over 100m, 11.57s, and won the race.<\/p>\n
\u201cI honestly did not expect to win it. I knew I was good, but I\u2019d done my research on all the girls in my race, and thought they were so much faster than me. I was scared,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n
\u201cBut I didn\u2019t put myself under any pressure. I just ran my race.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her next goal is to return to the US in August and reach the podium at the world U20 athletics championships in Oregon, wearing the silver fern.<\/p>\n
But it all could have been much different, had she continued along the path towards her dream as a 10-year-old: to play in the Australian women\u2019s sevens team.<\/p>\n
Kendra Scally-Tu\u2019i building bonds with other Tania Dalton Foundation scholars. Photo \/ Jo Caird<\/p>\n
Growing up in Auckland, Scally-Tu\u2019i started playing touch at 6 after watching her mum, Sheridan, play with friends. Her coach saw her speed and passing skills, and suggested she give rugby a go.<\/p>\n
\u201cI played in a boys\u2019 team at Massey, and they were just like my brothers,\u201d says Scully-Tu\u2019i, who was also doing athletics in summer.<\/p>\n
At 9, Scully-Tu\u2019i moved with her family to Victoria, Australia, for her dad\u2019s work. She dropped athletics to focus on rugby.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were living in Ballarat and after school, I\u2019d travel two hours to Melbourne for training,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
She played touch for Victoria at the national schools champs (where she revealed her ambition to play sevens for Australia to the local newspaper). <\/p>\n
But when Scally-Tu\u2019i returned to New Zealand for Christmas that year, she and her mum decided to stay and she threw herself into multiple sports \u2013 including sprinting again.<\/p>\n
\u201cThroughout my life, I\u2019ve done 18 different sports \u2013 swimming, gymnastics, cheerleading, crossfit, basketball, league and soccer,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n
\u201cBut at intermediate, rugby and touch came first, with sprinting third.\u201d<\/p>\n
But injuries on the field \u2013 the worst, a dislocated shoulder playing league \u2013 forced her to ease off ball sports, and recover with sprint training. <\/p>\n
\u201cAnd my love for running come back,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
Scally-Tu\u2019i began winning races and came under the coaching of Nuree Greenhalgh.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was the youngest in the team, but the boys and girls were so welcoming and made everything fun. And I felt like I was improving every day,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have a really close bond with my coach. I tell her how I\u2019m feeling; how I\u2019ve been with school, my love life, my friendships. I tell her everything because all that affects how you train and run.\u201d<\/p>\n
Scally-Tu\u2019i dropped rugby this year. <\/p>\n
\u201cBut it\u2019s definitely something I can come back to later. I need to put all my time into sprinting\u2026 until I\u2019m 28 or whatever age I finish at.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kendra Scally-Tu\u2019i is dedicated in training. Photo \/ Jo Caird<\/p>\n
Playing touch with the U20 Touch Blacks in Australia earlier this year, as a 16-year-old, she dislocated her shoulder twice.<\/p>\n
Although it doesn\u2019t affect her running, Scally-Tu\u2019i may need surgery. <\/p>\n
But she wants to delay that until after the world U20 athletics champs \u2013 where she\u2019s set her sights on making the podium in the 100m and 200m.<\/p>\n
\u201cI only get one chance to go to the U20 worlds because I turn 18 while I\u2019m over there. One chance, and I\u2019m going to make the most of it,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have really big goals, obviously the Olympics which I think I\u2019ll be going to. Also little goals I need to achieve before the big ones. I definitely care more about achieving the little ones.\u201d<\/p>\n
She credits her mum with teaching her priorities at a young age. Training six days a week, Scally-Tu\u2019i is careful not to overdo it on her rest day. <\/p>\n
\u201cMum was tough on me, but in a good way. When I was younger, she told me not to give up on sprinting, but to try harder. I didn\u2019t really understand at that age,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n
\u201cNow I\u2019m really thankful she supported me through the tough times, made me try these things and not give up.\u201d<\/p>\n
Even a hip injury leading up to last year\u2019s Oceania champs in Fiji couldn\u2019t stop her. <\/p>\n
Despite fluid in her bone and eight weeks without full training, she won the event, setting a new Oceania U18 record of 24.30s at just 15 \u2013 and she\u2019s shaved almost a second off since.<\/p>\n
Scally-Tu\u2019i running third to Zoe Hobbs over 60m at the 2025 International Track Meet. Photo \/ Alisha Lovrich, International Track and Field Trust<\/p>\n
Running alongside Hobbs \u2013 New Zealand\u2019s fastest woman over 100m in 10.94s \u2013 in local track meets has given Scally-Tu\u2019i something to aim for.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to be at her point hopefully when I\u2019m 20 \u2013 and I definitely want to go beyond that,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
As part of the 2024 cohort of the Tania Dalton Foundation scholarship programme, Scally-Tu\u2019i has created a sisterhood with young w\u0101hine on a similar path. <\/p>\n
\u201cGetting to know each other, how their sports work and what they\u2019re achieving, has been amazing. We now have bonds so we\u2019re still connected outside this,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe TDF funding has helped me to get to certain places, too, because it\u2019s pretty expensive for my parents.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m really grateful to TDF for helping me to grow as a person, through my mindset, my values, and how I represent myself.\u201d<\/p>\n
She\u2019s also one of the recipients of the new Air New Zealand Dream Seats initiative \u2013 receiving free flights to the world U20 championships, and mentoring from Adams.<\/p>\n
Faced with more forks in her pathway, Scally-Tu\u2019i has decided not to take up full-ride scholarship offers from US colleges, and stay with Greenhalgh and assistant coach Mark Keddell, who ran the 200m for New Zealand at the 1996 Olympics.<\/p>\n
As she gets faster, she\u2019s growing in confidence and optimism. <\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of people hate failing, but I enjoy it. I think it\u2019s a positive thing,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n
\u201cI used to have a negative mindset, but my mum\u2019s really helped me get a positive mindset. And being part of the Tania Dalton Foundation has made me look at life in a different way, too.\u201d<\/p>\n