Portland State’s track and field squad is looking to repeat their success in last quarter’s indoor season with a top-three finish in the upcoming outdoor Big Sky Championships. The story of the team’s season is in the records they’ve broken, but one group in particular has stood out in 2012: the sprinters.
The Vikings have been led this year by exceptional sprinters. Junior Geronne Black has repeatedly broken Big Sky records, Portland State records and then her own records. Karene King, who ran her last race as a Viking last quarter but still practices with the team, broke records during the indoor season and is one of the best runners in Portland State history.
Why are these sprinters so successful? What kind of coaching and time goes into these sprinters every day?
“I think in large part it comes down to the level of passion in the event,” head coach Ronnye Harrison said. “We have some very talented sprinters at our school. They know how serious and committed I am to their success in their events. A majority of the success comes in the numbers that are being served and how much commitment that is being given to them individually.”
Harrison, in addition to managing the teams as a whole, is the sprinters’ event coach. He works personally with all the sprinters. The sprinters are one of the smaller event groups, which means more one-on-one time. But that isn’t the only reason athletes like Black and King break record after record.
Harrison believes that Black, who came to PSU from Brooklyn, N.Y., has only gone home twice while attending Portland State. The junior spends a lot of her vacation time working out and looking for opportunities to train.
“She wants to be the best,” Harrison said.
Aside from training, Black spends a lot of her time researching her competition in the Big Sky Conference.
“If you were to talk to her right now, she could tell you the top 10 sprinters in this conference and their times,” Harrison said.
During the indoor season, Black wasn’t the only Viking who was in every headline. Senior sprinter Karene King broke record after record as well. The former Viking now runs for her home country, the British Virgin Islands. She also has aspirations to run in the 2012 Olympics in London.King still practices with Harrison, who will be her coach through her journey in professional meets.
“The sprinters have been successful because there has been a culture that has been developed around here,” assistant coach Seth Henson said. “They take their training extremely seriously, and they have a coach that understands the physical and mental and technical demands of those sprint races—and who knows how to implement and execute. He is a wonderful, wonderful sprint coach. And the athletes want to compete hard and practice hard for him.”
The track and field squad competes in the Big Sky Championship May 9–12.