Savannah Davis, the Ransom Everglades athlete who settles her nerves with a distinctive “kihap” yell, is quickly making a name for herself as a track-and-field talent in Florida and beyond.
Savannah Davis was just 5 years old when her parents watched her throw a two-pound baseball weight across the room. Her father, a track and field coach, took note.
“Most parents would probably punish their kid,” David Davis said. “Not me.”
He took her outside instead and asked her to throw an 8.8-pound shot put.
“I realized she might have a talent,” he recalled.
She did. Savannah, now 13 and a middle-school student at Ransom Everglades, has won 17 AAU titles, including two in July at the 2026 AAU Club National Championships in Jacksonville, where she placed first in both shot put and javelin.
Her javelin toss, at 33.87 meters (111 feet), set a new Club Meet record.
“I was just waiting for, like, a big breakthrough,” Savannah said, recalling the day of the meet. “I didn’t expect to go that far.”
Savannah surprised herself, and impressed her father, who continues to coach her.
“Even now, it still hasn’t really registered to her what she’s accomplished and what she’s done,” her father said. “She broke the record in javelin, and she just gets back in the car like a regular kid.”
Savannah is back in school this week at Ransom Everglades, where she takes classes as an eighth-grade student but competes in track and field at the high school level.
“She’s a blessed little girl,” said her mother, Kimberly Davis, the president of the Coconut Grove Optimist Club.
One of her coaches at Ransom, Mike Becker, said Savannah’s confidence gives her an edge in track-and-field competition.
“To excel in a field event, you not only need to work hard and learn the technique, which Savannah has done, but you have to keep your poise during competition when a lot of kids are getting nervous,” Becker said. “What Savannah does is she usually gets better as the competition goes on.”
After 22 years of coaching athletes at Ransom, Becker believes that, for Savannah, “the sky’s the limit.”
Despite her early success, though, Savannah recognizes that her journey hasn’t been one perfect throw. With the help of her parents, she was able to get in touch with a mental coach to help her overcome the nerves that began to creep up during meets.
Nicole Kendrick Evans, or Coach Cole, is the founder of TRU U Mindset Institute which helps athletes master the mental aspects of their sports.
Before knowing Savannah as a client, Evans knew her as a fan.
“I’ve always kept up with women’s throwing,” Evans said. “And Savannah was this, like, standout elementary-aged, pre-middle-school-aged athlete that just was exceptional.”
That talent, however, sometimes came with a fear of losing to other competitors.
That’s when Coach Cole stepped in to change Savannah’s focus.
“She helped me realize that it’s not about, like, just beating competitors all the time,” Savannah said. “It’s about realizing, like, you can do it yourself. It’s about having confidence in yourself.”
In addition to her confidence, Savannah is known for her “kihap,” the sharp yell she releases to reduce anxiety before a throw. Kihap is a Korean term for the spirited shout used in Taekwondo to gather energy and focus the mind.
Savannah developed her distinctive yell with a martial arts trainer, Master Cocco, when she was in elementary school.
“It just takes something out of me that I can’t do on my own,” Savannah explained. “I was over the thought of losing, but there was this little bit of anxiety left.”
Savannah’s success as an athlete has led to other pursuits as well, including Field Events Matter, an enterprise she launched to earn more respect, and recognition, for field events within the track-and-field community.
“I feel like sometimes people in field events might feel like they don’t get enough recognition for what they do,” Savannah said. “They could be doing even better than me, and they feel like, ‘No one sees me because I’m not a 100- or 200-(meter) runner.’”
Savannah and her family also advocate for better field conditions for athletes. They described tracks for runners being consistently smooth, while field athletes sometimes faced uneven runways. Field Events Matter wants to end that inequality.
“Little by little, we try to get these things to be better in the throwing world,” said her mother.
On and off the field, Savannah attributes much of her success to her religious beliefs.
“I feel like just me keeping faith and just going out there doing my best is just what’s keeping me here right now,” said Savannah when asked about what motivates her.
Before competing, she listens to gospel music to calm her nerves and prays with her family before a series of throws.
“We don’t move without God,” her mother said.
The faith of the entire family has propelled them through hardships, even before Savannah’s career began.
“When we first got married, doctors told us we couldn’t have kids,” her father said. They now have two. Samuel Davis, Savannah’s brother, excels at photography.
“We call them God’s gifts,” their father said.
Looking ahead, Savannah said her goals include getting onto the podium at the state championships and keeping up her grades in school.
All of which makes her a role model for some.
“I didn’t realize how many kids I was inspiring until I went to a track meet and this little girl recognized me,” Savannah said. “They are inspired by me and my movement.”
Sofia Barrera is a summer intern at the Spotlight. She graduated from Carrollton School of the Sacred Heart in 2025 and attends Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, where she is pursuing a Bachelor of Science degree in journalism and political science.
