Emani Kelley ’19 is the president of Alpha Gamma Phi and 400m track record holder at The College of Wooster.
Could you tell us a little bit about yourself?
My name is Emani Kelley. I am a senior psychology major and Spanish and Latin American studies double minor.
Tell us how it feels to hold a track record.
At the Kenyon Invite two weekends ago (Feb. 16), I raced in the 500m event and I broke the 25-year-old record. I raced it with the intention of breaking that record. My coach wanted me to do it because it wasn’t a normal distance for me, but it provided an opportunity to prove what I’d been training for the indoor season. My coach put me in that event and the 4×4 relay. So, yeah, I went into it with the hope of beating 1.22 mins record, which was the old record. Again, it was a very strange distance because it was more than the 400m but less than the 800m. The 800m event is my typical event to run. I went in there to race hard and whatever happens, happens. I broke the record with 1.19 mins.
It’s track season right now, so what other conferences have you been attending?
We typically have The Kenyon Invitational, Denison Invitational, All Ohio Track and Field. Two of those have been mostly schools within our own conference, Division III schools. This weekend we have the indoor conference here in Wooster. That will be exciting. It’ll just be all of our conference here to race for the championships.
What are your usual events?
Normally, I do 800m because that’s what I train for. My focus is usually outdoor season 800m. I haven’t run in 800m as an individual indoor event yet. However, I will be doing that on Friday at the conference here.
What is the difference between outdoor events and indoor events?
Technically, they are two different seasons, but everyone who runs outdoor pretty much runs indoor as well. Outdoor is usually around spring and indoor is more around a colder time. Indoor is different. I never ran indoor before. I’m from California and it’s always nice outside. It was different having to transition from running outdoor to running indoor as well and doing double of everything, but I like it.
What is your record for 800m?
The fastest time I’ve run in college is 2.19 mins or 2.20 mins. In high school, it was 2.17 mins. So, I’m trying to get back to 2.17 mins this year. My training has been pretty good so far from running cross country until now. So, I’m hoping to have the best senior season yet.
What kind of training goes into bring down your time?
A lot of it — for me at least — is focusing on the non-workout training days. So, going out and getting my base mileage for cross country and the weight stuff helps to get that power you need to finish difficult races strong. That’s what I focus on and I’ve had to tweak my training because I’m pretty prone to injury, so I have to know my body and know what I need to have that intensity but not hurt myself in the process. I’ve had to learn to fine-tune that process and figure out what works out best for me. Perfecting the process is my mindset going into training.
What are the misconceptions about track?
I mean, people think of track as just running all the time and there’s no strategy. We might not have to be on a field with teammates and strategize certain plays but there’s strategizing placements and pacing yourself. What time are you shooting for? Competitions are not just going out and running as fast as you can, but like what is your training setting you up for? How is training setting you up to run in the smartest way you can? Training is not just going out to run. We have workout sets for specific running events to prepare you. So, there are a lot of different skills and things you train for. Even me as a middle-distance runner, I don’t know all the workouts the sprinters and jumpers do but they have their own specific training for their specific skill set.
You mentioned strategy earlier. What is your specific traning strategy ?
For me, honestly, I like to get out really hard in my races. So, I will push very hard during the first 400m and then settle a little bit in the race, figure out my placement in terms of the other racers, and then gauge for the last 200m and then give it all you’ve got. There is not much time to do all of this, so I try as much as possible to push and then push some more. Whatever gas I have left in the tank is what I’ll finish with. Indoor is a little bit different because it’s so many laps; that’s why I like to run the full 800m outside.
What else are you involved in outside of track?
I work on campus in the Writing Center. I am also the president of Alpha Gamma Phi. Those are my main extracurriculars. I’m doing psychology every so often, so there’s not much time left. I’m focused on finishing I.S. right now.
What is your I.S. about?
It is looking at Spanish-speaking patients and their perception of trust in their doctors. I got a lot of my data primarily from patients in a hospital in California. I have not yet had any I.S. presentations, but I will be going to a conference to present it, so I’m excited!
Interview by Jenelle Booker, a Contributing Writer for the Voice (Photo courtesy Emani Kelley).