2025 Daily Journal Girls Track and Field Athlete of the Year: Kankakee’s Naomi Bey-Osborne

Kankakee track and field coach Marques Lowe first met Naomi Bey-Osborne when she was an eighth grader. He was coming to talk to prospective track and field athletes about not just the sport, but how important their grades were.

“Her getting in trouble with grades and being scared of the 400 [meters],” Lowe laughingly recalled of his first interaction with the 2025 Kankakee graduate. “However, you know you have to get them to believe in themselves before they believe in you.”

As her club coach with the Vipers Track Club that year, Lowe began his attempts at opening Bey-Osborne’s eyes. Within a year, she was playing a vital role on the first of back-to-back Class 2A state champion teams and earning her first four state medals, gold in the 200 and 400 meter dashes and 4x100 and 4x400 relays.

Three years after that, Bey-Osborne’s persistence both on the track and in the classroom have paid off. With a total of 11 state medals and a scholarship to one of the nation’s most prestigious public universities, Illinois, Bey-Osborne is the 2025 Daily Journal Girls Track and Field Athlete of the Year.

Now that she’s had some time to process her prep career, Bey-Osborne has finally been able to enjoy some of the fruits of her labor as she’s started to reflect on her legendary four years.

“Personally, I never got a chance to truly celebrate as I felt my job was never done,” Bey-Osborne said. “If I had to describe it to someone I would say there is no higher feeling than the gift you have been given. If you work hard, that time will come. Work ethic is essential and important.”

Just months before winning another four gold medals as a sophomore – repeating as the 200 and 400 champion and once again working on the winning 4x100 and 4x400 relays – and another team title, Bey-Osborne won national gold in 2023 as the 17/18-year-old 400 indoor champion.

A year later, as the Kays looked to continue their state dominance after moving up to Class 3A, a hamstring injury cost Bey-Osborne her junior state trip, the beginning of a tumultuous 2024 that also included being the one to discover her grandfather, Hardeitha “Hikey” Osborne Jr., died in their home just weeks before the start of her senior year.

As she recovered both physically and mentally, Bey-Osborne took part of the school’s inaugural flag football season last fall, helping the Kays – also under Lowe’s tutelage – to a regional title. She said the physical and team bonding benefits on the gridiron helped an already-strong track and field team, and as the indoor season got underway over the winter, Bey-Osborne finally felt back on top in what she called the “proudest moment” of her career, a time of 55.11 in the 400.

“I was battling so much at the time and I didn’t believe I could do it,” Bey-Osborne said. “However, I did that for my grandfather. One last win for him. It was a special moment, and that is why I was so shocked it happened.”

And over the spring, she closed the chapter of her Kankakee career in style. She was a part of the team’s All-City championship 4x100 team to cap off an All-City career of nine golds in nine total races.

Similarly, the 4x100 team won the Southland Athletic Conference title and she won the 200, making her a perfect 13 for 13 in conference championship races over her career. She added three more medals – fourth in the 400 with a personal-record 55.09 seconds and a part of relay teams that took fourth in the 4x100 and fifth in the 4x400 – to finish with 11 state medals.

She said she hasn’t really thought about it much, but there’s no doubt Bey-Osborne’s name will be one of, if not the first name associated with the program forever more.

“I’ve never really thought about it in that context,” Bey-Osborne said. “It does feel good to know the things I accomplished at this level have earned me and my team some recognition. I am so proud of myself dealing with some of the hardest things and times in my life this season. Anything is possible when you let go and let God.”

Lowe hasn’t thought about her success in that context yet either. In his eyes, she’s just scratching the surface.

“In all honesty, she hasn’t reached [her full potential] yet,” Lowe said. “But watching her help her teammates, coaches and school win titles, break records and get to the next level is special.”

Lowe thinks that Bey-Osborne can represent the United States at the Olympics someday, her ultimate goal on the track. But first, she plans on making a similar mark at Illinois that she made at Kankakee.

“I know I am in good hands, and when it is all said and done, I hope to make everyone proud,” Bey-Osborne said. “I am proud of myself for not giving up and so grateful for my coaches, counselor, teachers and so many more that have helped me grow as a person. I hope that at the next level I can do the same with my teammates and new family.”