kingston sprinting phenom wyatt lee bound for north carolina state on full ncaa scholarship
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record-setting sprinter wyatt lee announced his commitment to north carolina state university at a ceremony in the frontenac secondary gymnasium in kingston, ontario, on tuesday, may 5, 2026. the grade 12 student is the defending provincial champion in the senior boys 100 and 200 metres. (photo by gare joyce/the kingston whig-standard)
kingston’s athletic prodigy will be running with the wolves next year.
wyatt lee, the record-setting sprinter from frontenac secondary and defending provincial champion in the senior boys 100- and 200-metres races, announced his commitment to north carolina state, home of the wolfpack.
lee made the announcement with a bit of ceremony and fanfare in the gymnasium tuesday night at the secondary school where he joined the track team in mid-season in grade 10, barely two years ago. family, coaches, teachers and friends gathered to celebrate his track scholarship, but also to find out his destination for the next stage of his athletics career — the 18-year-old seemingly managed to keep everyone in the dark about the selection up to the very last moment.
three hats that were souvenirs of visits to schools that recruited him sat on a table at centre stage in the run-up, but when lee sat down in front of the mic — and after he made sure his cellphone camera was lined up properly for livestreaming to instagram — he pulled a north carolina state hat from a bag beneath the table, donned it and then opened up a windbreaker to reveal a n.c. state t-shirt underneath.
the school, a member of the atlantic coast conference in sports, represents something of a surprise.
back in january, at the start of the indoor season, louisiana state university seemed to have the inside track on landing lee after he visited baton rouge. lsu ranks as a powerhouse in u.s. collegiate athletics — with its sprinters showing the way, lsu’s track and field team is ranked no. 4 in ncaa men’s track and field, no. 5 in the women’s division.
lsu has turned out scores of all-americans, dozens of ncaa champions and several olympians, notably vernon norwood, who earned relay golds in the last two olympic games, and sha’carri richardson, who won a silver in the women’s 100 in paris in 2024 along with a gold in the 4x100-metre relay. lsu also had a reputation for recruiting internationally, with alumni including mondo duplantis, the two-time olympic gold medalist in the pole vault, representing sweden, and nathaneel mitchell-blake, who won a bronze in the 4x100 representing great britain in paris. and as far as home cooking goes, glenroy gilbert also attended lsu before he won olympic gold for canada in the 4x100 in atlanta in 1996.
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lee seemed quite enamoured with the coaching and fast company he’d keep in the bayou, but n.c. state in raleigh made up ground and had the day.
the wolfpack track is in middle of the pack in the atlantic coast conference and had a handful of athletes qualify for the ncaa championship finals.
“they’re better known for distance running,” lee said. “i’d like to change that.”
it wouldn’t be the first time he has flipped the script — kingston wasn’t known as canadian sprint central or anything like that prior to his bursting on the scene and winning the double at ofsaa last year, including setting a national u18 record of 10.38 in winning the 100 metres. prior to last season, the record had been 10.46 run by former olympian aaron brown in 2009. lee ran fractionally faster times than brown’s mark twice before the provincial finals.
having turned 18 last month, he has a couple of years to chase down the national u20 record, which is 10.23, run by tooni ogunyeye, lee’s teammate with the flying angels track club. “i hope to break that this year,” lee said.
while lee was basking in the limelight at the announcement, he was using the event as an opportunity to thank those who’ve helped him to put him on the path to athletic glories and to college on a full scholarship. in particular, the announcement was a moment that he wanted to share with his parents, his father tyler, a plumber, and mother becky, who works for a health-food business.
“for every hour that he’s spent working on the track, there have been a lot of hours that he spent getting ready for this,” tyler lee said. “he had to catch up academically to qualify for university, so that was a lot of work that he had to put in. it’s not the glamourous part, but college wasn’t really on his radar and (the track scholarship) is opening all kinds of doors for him that he didn’t imagine and that we didn’t either.”
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the scholarship is a byproduct of not only a physical gift, but a family commitment — tyler would drive his son to toronto for workouts last year, two or three times a week, in what was wyatt’s first full season in training and competing. he wouldn’t estimate how many trips or how many thousands of kilometres he’d put on his van. “i have had to get new brakes,” he said. “this year, it’s been a little easier, knowing the work that he had to do on the track, and he was able to mostly train indoors at rmc, so that’s cut down a bit and it’s been easier on wyatt.”
wyatt’s mother, becky, fought back tears in vain when her son spoke those in attendance tuesday evening.
“when wyatt was born, we were so worried about him as a baby,” she said. “doctors had to give his heart a shock when he was a newborn — and we’ve always thought that might have been something that made him so fast.”
as origin stories go, wyatt lee’s infant defibrillation would be up there with the radioactive spider biting peter parker and probably not grounds enough for cardiologists and athletics canada to launch a clinical trial.
“we’re just so proud of wyatt, the way he stepped up and has taken challenges,” becky said. “he wasn’t a naturally competitive boy when he was younger — maybe nervous or uncomfortable — but now he’s so focused and aware, but he hasn’t changed. he’s still kind and thankful for everything and still thinking about other people.”
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