# Kylee Poulton: Holland’s Small-School Standout Making Big Ten Waves
## The Sprinter from Black River
Holland, Michigan is best known for its Dutch heritage, its tulip festival, and its scenic Lake Michigan shoreline. But for the track and field community in western Michigan, Holland has produced something else to be proud of: Kylee Poulton, a sprinter who turned heads at every level of competition on her path from a small charter school gymnasium to the Big Ten Conference at Indiana University.
Born in 2004, Poulton grew up in Holland and attended Black River Public School, a small charter school on the west side of the state that is far better known for academic rigor than athletics. But natural ability has a way of finding its stage, and Poulton’s speed proved to be something that no school size could contain. By the time she graduated in 2022, she had done things at the Michigan High School Athletic Association level that athletes from programs ten times the size of Black River never accomplish — and she had done it while carrying the attitude of someone who genuinely loves the process.
“I am at my best when challenged to learn and improve whatever it is I am doing,” Poulton wrote in her college recruiting profile. “Sprinting is something where the process of learning and improving is never over. No matter what you might achieve there is always something else to learn and implement… It is as much a mental commitment as it is physical.”
That mindset would prove essential as she navigated the significant leap from MHSAA Division 3 to the Big Ten.
## The High School Years: A Rising Force in Michigan Sprinting
Poulton’s development as a sprinter followed a steady upward arc through her four years at Black River. She competed in the 100 metres, 200 metres, and 400 metres, along with relay events when the team could put together a squad, and she made the MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 3 Finals stage each season she competed.
Her junior year in 2021 offered early signs of what was coming. At the MHSAA LP Division 3 Finals, she finished second in the 100 metres, third in the 200 metres, and fourth in the 400 metres — a well-rounded performance across three events that put her firmly on the radar of college coaches. She also earned All-Conference, All-County, and All-Region recognition that season.
The leap she made between her junior and senior years was substantial. As the 2022 season opened, Poulton was generating buzz across western Michigan as the top-seeded entrant in three events at the state finals: the 100 metres (seeded at 12.23 seconds), the 200 metres (25.39), and the 400 metres (57.24). The Michigan High School Athletic Association itself highlighted her as one of the marquee athletes to watch heading into the state championship weekend.
She delivered. At the 2022 MHSAA LP Division 3 Finals held at Kent City, Poulton swept the 100 metres (12.28 seconds) and 200 metres (24.83 seconds) — her first-ever state championship titles, and two of the finest sprint performances by any Michigan Division 3 athlete in years. Although she held the best qualifying time in the 400 metres as well, she made the tactical decision to scratch from that event in order to conserve energy for the 200, and anchored the Black River 4×400 relay in the closing moments of the day. It was a meet she will carry with her.
“This year was really fun. I really love my team this year,” she told the Michigan High School Athletic Association after the meet. “Having a 4×4 relay has been, like, a highlight because it’s just so fun. In the past years, I wasn’t able to participate in relays, but we were able to put together a pretty good team this year and run in the state finals. I’d say my highlight would be the Regional meet. We were last (in the 1,600 relay) and then we ended up becoming first.”
Those state titles cemented what her regional performance — where she won the 100 metres, 200 metres, and 400 metres and anchored the 4×400 relay to a regional title — had already made clear. She was special. The Holland Sentinel named her its High School Athlete of the Week following that regional showing, and Black River Public School announced her as the track Athlete of the Year.
Her high school personal bests stood at 12.08 in the 100 metres, 24.83 in the 200 metres, and 57.25 in the 400 metres — numbers that were not only state-championship caliber but legitimately strong for a Division I college scholarship offer.
Poulton had also qualified for the USATF Junior Olympics prior to her senior season, a national youth athletics competition that confirmed her status among the country’s top young sprinters.
## Choosing Indiana: Business and the Big Ten
When it came time to choose a college, Poulton committed early — in January 2022, before her state-title senior season had even begun — to Indiana University and its track and field program. Her reasons were candid and dual-tracked: athletics and academics.
“I chose Indiana because I am looking to study business, and the Kelley School of Business at IU is one of the top ranked programs in the nation,” she told the Holland Sentinel. “For athletics, it’s in the Big Ten Conference and it has amazing athletic facilities. The coaching staff and the team were so welcoming and supportive on my visit as well.”
She was clear-eyed about the rarity of the opportunity. “I am so excited to have the opportunity to train and compete at the next level,” she said. “Competing in the Big Ten is a big jump especially from a smaller school. It is something I am really excited about and hoping to make the most of.”
She enrolled in Indiana’s Hutton Honors College, where she joined a small percentage of IU students accepted into the university’s most selective academic program. She declared a major in Finance at the Kelley School of Business with a minor in Apparel Merchandising — a combination that reflects both her analytical disposition and her long-standing interest in fashion and brand strategy.
## Freshman Year at Indiana: Setting the Foundation (2022–23)
Kylee Poulton arrived at Indiana in the fall of 2022 as one of the more highly regarded sprint recruits in the Big Ten class, but, like all incoming freshmen at the Division I level, the first year was primarily about adjustment — to the training volume, to competition depth, and to the sheer speed of collegiate sprinting.
Her indoor debut came at the 2022 Hoosier Open in December, where she clocked 8.07 seconds in the 60 metres, her first recorded collegiate mark. She followed that at the Commodore Challenge in January 2023 with an 8.00 in the 60 metres and a 26.55 in the 200 metres. The improvements were coming, even if the times themselves reflected the natural transition period most freshmen experience.
Outdoors in the spring of 2023, she gained valuable experience at major invitational meets. She ran 26.44 in the 200 metres at the Raleigh Relays, one of the country’s premier spring meets, and followed with outings at the Tennessee Invite (200m: 26.49; 100m: 13.05). Perhaps most significantly, she anchored Indiana’s 4×400 relay at the NC State facilities — the Raleigh Relays — posting a relay split that contributed to a team 4×400 time of 3:48.71, her first recorded relay performance on the World Athletics database.
It was a freshman year of learning: getting used to Big Ten training, competing in fields of near-professional-level depth, and building the fitness and technical foundation for what would come next.
## Sophomore Year: First Personal Bests in Crimson (2023–24)
Poulton’s sophomore season brought a steady cascade of personal bests as her collegiate development began to crystallize.
The indoor season opened at the Indiana Early Bird meet in December 2023, where she posted a 60m time of 7.98 seconds — a meaningful improvement from her freshman marks — and a 200m of 26.24. Both were collegiate personal bests at the time. “Opened the season with personal bests in the 60 meters of 7.98 and the 200 meters of 26.24,” Indiana’s athletics department noted in her season summary. She followed with a 25.87 in the 200 metres at the Indiana Invitational in January and a 26.11 at the Meyo Invitational.
The outdoor season at Indiana’s Billy Hayes Invitational in May 2024 produced her best outdoor marks to that point: 25.62 in the 200 metres (just 0.2 metres-per-second wind assistance) and 57.74 in the 400 metres. Both represented solid Big Ten-level performances, and the 200m mark in particular signaled that she was beginning to find her ceiling at the collegiate level.
Off the track, her academic performance earned her Big Ten Distinguished Scholar recognition and Academic All-Big Ten honors — a reflection of the same drive she brings to competition applied to the classroom.
## Junior Year: The 400 Moves to Center Stage (2024–25)
The 2024–25 academic year marked a pivotal shift in Kylee Poulton’s event focus. The 400 metres, which had always been in her repertoire going back to high school, moved more definitively to the front of her competitive profile, alongside the 200 metres and the team’s relay efforts.
The indoor season opened with a third-place finish at the Indiana Early Bird in December 2024, where she clocked 56.80 in the 400 metres — already a significant improvement from her previous collegiate marks in the event. She also contributed a 3:48.49 4×400 relay split to Indiana’s relay squad.
She kept building through January and February. At the Commodore Challenge she ran a 300-metre personal best of 40.43, placing seventh. At the Crossroads of America Invitational she ran a 57.78 in the 400 and helped Indiana to a 3:47.33 4×400. Then came what was arguably the performance of her junior season: at the Midwest Classic Invitational on February 1, 2025, she clocked a 57.04 in the 400 metres, placing sixth in the final, and added a 25.38 in the 200 metres in the same meet — both of those times registered on the World Athletics database as personal bests.
At the Wisconsin Badgers’ Windy City Invite in Chicago in mid-February, she ran a 57.23 and contributed to a 4×400 of 3:45.85 — a mark that now stands as Indiana’s best recorded relay time in Poulton’s collegiate career, and one that earned a World Athletics score of 1,032.
Indiana’s athletics department summed up her indoor season: she “ran a top 10 time in the 400 meters at the Midwest Classic.” The outdoor season of 2025 did not produce any recorded results.
## Senior Year: Pushing into the 56s (2025–26)
The 2025–26 season has brought Kylee Poulton to what appears to be the most productive stretch of her collegiate career, with the 400 metres becoming her signature event and her times descending further into the competitive range.
The indoor season opened at the Indiana Early Bird in December 2025, where she ran a 300 metres in 41.48 and contributed to a 3:47.85 4×400 relay. In January 2026, she ran a 59.27 in the 400 at the Indiana Invitational. Then came the significant breakthrough: at the Crossroads of America Invitational, she ran 58.12 before arriving at the PNC Lenny Lyles Open on January 30–31, 2026, where she ran a 56.99 in the 400 and a 25.39 in the 200.
The performance of her senior season — and the top mark of her career to date — arrived at the 5th Annual Badgers Windy City Invite at the Gately Indoor Track & Field Center in Chicago on February 6–7, 2026. Poulton ran a 56.25 in the 400 metres, placing sixth in the final, and was part of Indiana’s 4×400 relay team that posted 3:45.60 — a third-place finish. The 56.25 is her collegiate personal best in the 400 and currently stands as her top mark registered with World Athletics.
## Personal Bests
| Event | Mark | Date | Venue |
|——-|——|——|——-|
| 60 Metres (indoor) | 7.98 | December 8, 2023 | Indiana Early Bird |
| 100 Metres (outdoor) | 13.05 | April 6–8, 2023 | Tennessee Invite |
| 200 Metres (indoor) | 25.38 | January 31–February 1, 2025 | Midwest Classic |
| 200 Metres (outdoor) | 25.62 | May 3, 2024 | Billy Hayes Invitational |
| 300 Metres (indoor) | 40.43 | January 11, 2025 | Commodore Challenge |
| 400 Metres (indoor) | 56.25 | February 6, 2026 | Windy City Invite, Chicago |
| 400 Metres (outdoor) | 57.74 | May 3, 2024 | Billy Hayes Invitational |
| 4×400 Relay (indoor) | 3:45.60 | February 7, 2026 | Windy City Invite, Chicago |
**High School Personal Bests (pre-Indiana):** 100m: 12.08, 200m: 24.83, 400m: 57.25
## The Student-Athlete
What distinguishes Kylee Poulton’s story is not simply what happens in the lanes. At Indiana, she is enrolled in both the Hutton Honors College and the Kelley School of Business, pursuing a Finance degree with an Apparel Merchandising minor — a combination that demands the kind of time management that elite student-athletes know all too well. She has earned Academic All-Big Ten recognition and Big Ten Distinguished Scholar honors, and carries a strong enough GPA to be included in Indiana’s academic honor rolls multiple times across her collegiate career.
On campus she has been active in the Hoosier Hero Mentor Program, working with incoming freshmen and transfer student-athletes to ease their transition to IU life — discussing classes, offering campus tours, and leading small group discussions. She has participated in the Emerging Leaders and HER programs, and serves in a budget management role with Indiana’s Retail Studies Organization.
She has also been an active presence on Indiana’s NIL (Name, Image, Likeness) marketplace through Opendorse, offering personalized shoutout videos, social media posts, appearances, and autographs — a reflection of the broader NIL landscape that has opened new avenues for college athletes to build their brand during their playing careers.
## Social Media and Online Presence
Kylee Poulton maintains active social media profiles where she documents her athletic and academic life at Indiana. She is available through Indiana University’s NIL platform, Opendorse, for brand partnerships and fan engagement opportunities.
Her LinkedIn profile (linkedin.com/in/kyleepoulton) reflects her dual identity as both a competitive Division I athlete and a business-minded student with serious post-graduation plans. She describes herself as “strategic and driven” and lists finance, fashion merchandising, and mentorship among her active pursuits.
## Looking Ahead
As Kylee Poulton enters what is likely the final stretch of her competitive collegiate career, a few things stand out. Her 400 metres is clearly the event with the most upside, and the trajectory from a 57.25 high school personal best to a 56.25 collegiate best in the span of four years of Big Ten training suggests continued improvement is possible through the outdoor season of 2026. The 56-second barrier in the 400 is within realistic striking distance.
Her story — a small-school sprinter from Holland, Michigan, competing on a full Division I scholarship in one of college athletics’ premier conferences while simultaneously pursuing an honors business degree — is exactly the kind of narrative that Black River Public School and the Holland area can point to with genuine pride. She has navigated the pressures and opportunities of Big Ten athletics without losing sight of why she fell in love with the sport in the first place.
“Track has taught me how to deal with success, failure, commitment, loyalty and perseverance,” she has said. Those lessons extend well beyond the track, and Kylee Poulton seems to know it.
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*Kylee Poulton was born in 2004 and is from Holland, Michigan. She is a sprinter at Indiana University, competing for the Hoosiers in the Big Ten Conference. She is registered with World Athletics under athlete code 14993528. She studies Finance and Apparel Merchandising at the Kelley School of Business and Hutton Honors College at Indiana University.*
