UAPB’s John to take field at NCAA meet

UAPB senior Safiya John is headed to the biggest stage for collegiate outdoor track and field with a date at the first round of the NCAA Men’s and Women’s Outdoor Championships in Fayetteville beginning Wednesday.

She will compete Thursday evening in the long jump, starting at 6 p.m. at John McConnell Stadium. John, already one of the most decorated female athletes in track and field ever at UAPB, will be relishing an opportunity to top her performances from last season in which she finished 38th with a time of 13.55 in the 100-meter hurdles.

“She has been competitive all four years, but this has been her best season so far because everything just came together,” UAPB head coach Christopher McCoy said. “She has always been in the top 30, but it was hard for her to crack that top 25 and get an invite. She really hasn’t done anything differently on the track, but it was just a matter of continuing to listen to the coaches, being committed to the weight room and staying on track. It was just a matter of maturing.”

John’s record-breaking accolades have paved the way for her eventual road to the NCAAs and her resume is littered with many top conference honors such as Most Outstanding Female Athlete Field Performer both indoor and outdoor in Heptathlon (with 5,257 points), Most Outstanding Female Athlete Field Performer

in Pentathlon (also set record with 3,703 points), best high jump and first place at SWAC Indoor Track and Field Championships back in February and Best Long Jump, Shot Put and 100-meter hurdle run at SWAC Indoor Championships, just to name a few.

“Track and field is such a hard sport so you have to have a tough mindset to be able to do it,” John said. “But all of my coaches have done a great job of pushing me toward my goals on and off the track.”

This season, John secured three first-place finishes at the SWAC Outdoor Track and Field Championships in the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 13.30 seconds, the women’s long jump with a mark of 6.10 meters and the heptathlon with 5,602 points.

McCoy said he believed that pushing John to compete in all seven events allowed her room to grow and began to set the tone for the success that would eventually come her way.

“Each of the seven events is unique in their own way but she really started to click and performed well in each of them,” McCoy said.

John spurned offers from Tennessee Tech and Kennesaw State because of the persistence and interest of the UAPB staff – including primary coach Natoya Baird-Davidson, who also hails from Trinidad and Tobago.

“They were really focused on getting me here.” John said, “And I knew I had my parents’ support because they are happy that I have made it this far.”

Nothing has come easy for the hard-working biology major who once had huge aspirations on raising her country’s flag proudly on the world stage in the Olympics, but she now seems to be more focused on completing her degree and beginning a professional career in environmental science.

“At first competing in the Olympics was a big dream of mine.” John said. “But now I am preparing myself for the future. If the Olympics happen, they happen.”