By Kalena Reynolds | Staff Writer
For freshman sprinter Royaltee Brown, integrating into the track program at Baylor has meant reworking her routine to compete against upperclassmen. Brown tweaked her form and made sure she prioritized confidence.
“I was nervous,” Brown said. “It was way different coming from high school… [In] college, everybody is a state winner, everybody’s fast, and it’s just like a dog is going to be a dog. So if you want to [win], you got to go get it. And that’s what I did.”
Head coach Michael Ford said college track is a big transition for all athletes, and it requires a high level of physical stamina and mental toughness to rise with the pressure of competition.
“It’s a big transition because even in college, everyone’s fast, and so for us, it was just trying to make sure technique-wise, as she mentioned earlier about her technique, it’s just making an adjustment,” Ford said. “We brought her to practice by herself, to kind of focus on some things that she was doing technically wrong in her blocks.”
Ford said that the biggest thing they worked on with Brown was her patience, which correlated with her technical improvements and her ability to work through drills on a continuous basis.
“I can see her maturity after meet one to meet five, where she’s actually being a little bit more patient and thinking about the technique part,” Ford said. “In college, it’s about getting stronger, and she’ll do that as she gets older and she gets more conditioned in the weight room. So for me right now, my goal is for her to make sure she scores at the conference meet and be one of the freshmen that could possibly make nationals.”
Aside from her goals, Brown said that having older teammates who are well-versed in college athletics has been a significant factor in her early success. Ultimately, their leadership helped integrate her into the program.
“Coach Ford is the coach, and he’s going to coach me regardless,” Brown said. “But having teammates step in here and know how stuff goes [tell you], ‘You fix this, this and that,’ [helps] me develop as a runner too.”
At her first meet, Brown came in first place in the 60 meter preliminary round. Since then, she has worked on improving her performance to help her in the long-term.
“My block start was horrible in high school,” Brown said. “I would just run. My track record until I got to high school was just me running off of natural talent. I barely practiced. When I got here, I had to practice and adjust and learn a lot of new things, such as my start, getting my knees up, pumping my arms when I’m tired [and] being patient.”
Before Brown came to Baylor, Ford had her at the top of his prospect list due to her potential.
“I always think about any athletes that we bring in, there’s a fit component to it, and we got along really well on her visit,” Ford said. “I saw the talent and we made some tweaks here and there. I thought she would run fast, and she’s doing that right now.”
Brown set a goal to win an NCAA Championship title as an individual and a team.
“Just having a title, like having an NCAA title, is something big to me,” Brown said. “I just want to develop [and] get better than where I was the year before. This is my main goal.”
Baylor track and field will be back in action at the Big 12 Indoor Championship on Feb. 28 at the Sports Performance Center in Lubbock.
