Diary of Saraque Whittaker

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SARAQUE WHITTAKER
(June 1)

(www.hurricanesports.com) — Yesterday was a rather light day. We had a light practice in the morning followed by lunch, and then went to the grocery store to pick up a few things. Before we knew it, it was time to head over to the track meet.

The relay was off until Saturday so once again I was able to just relax and just be fan. I thought the meet went pretty well for us. It was a little disappointing because Sharianne (Lawson) didn’t qualify for the finals of the 100-hurdles. But Lauryn (Williams) and Wyllesheia (Myrick) did advance to the finals of the 100-meters so that was exciting.

Overall the team is very happy because for the most part we have accomplished what we set out too. We have the opportunity to score a lot of points on Saturday and place pretty high in the team standings.

After the meet we went to Katreshia Louis’ house for dinner. Katreshia is a former UM sprinter who lives in the area. Her mother cooked a wonderful meal for us including crawfish gumbo, and grilled fish and shrimp.

Heading into today’s 4×400-meter relay final I am a little nervous, but I’m trying to stay relaxed because I don’t want to get too anxious, too early. I’m just going to go out and do my best.

(May 31)

Yesterday morning we did our usual competition workout, which included some handoffs and then some all-out 60-meter sprints just to get our legsworking. After that we went to lunch and then hung out at the hotel until itwas time to head to the track.

Overall we had a very good meet yesterday. I was really excited forSharianne (Lawson). She has struggled with injuries over the last year so itwas great to see not only compete at the NCAA Championships, but to advanceto the semifinals of the 100-hurdles.

Unfortunately I wasn’t able to watch Lauryn (Williams) and Wyllesheia(Myrick) because we were warming up for the 4×400-meter relay but I know theyran really well.

After watching everyone else compete I was ready to get go. It was toughearlier in the day watching the 400-meter preliminaries because I felt Ishould have been out there. I think that had me more fired up heading intothe relay.

I ran the opening leg of the relay and probably ran the best race of mylife. I felt very comfortable the entire race. When I made the turn into thehome stretch I was shocked to be in the lead. We had Southern California andSouth Carolina in our heat and they are the two of the best teams in thecountry, so when the announcer said Miami was in the lead I couldn’t believeit. I’m not used to running in front.

Everyone on the relay ran great. Jamillah (Wade), Jenise (Winston) andKitoya (Carter) all ran fast times. We finished third in the semifinal racebehind USC and South Carolina, but we set a school-record and qualified forthe finals. The opportunity to become All-Americans has everyone excited, especially since UM has never had a 4×400-meter relay earn All-Americahonors.

Right now I think we are running the best we have all season. Thedifference between now and when we ran at Penn Relays is that now we areworking towards a common goal. We have really come together as a team.

I can’t wait to watch Sharianne, Lauryn and Wyllesheia run tonight.Hopefully they will all qualify for Saturday’s finals because everyone on theteam thinks we can place high this year.

(May 30)

We got here on Monday and have had a lot of fun so far.

Everything has been pretty relaxed. We have had three really good short but intense workouts. Coach (Amy) Deem wants to keep us well rested heading into Thursday so she has kept our workouts short. The track is very, very fast and is in tremendous shape.

We have been able to do some interesting stuff in our spare time. Tuesday we headed to one of the local malls. Jenise Winston and I had the best time. We went to Brookstone and must have spent about 45 minutes tryingeverything in the store. I also decided to get a makeover, which was nice.

Wednesday we visited Nottoway Plantation which is the largest Plantation home in the south. Our tour guide was fantastic. She was really funny and kept the tour interesting. The house was huge. The thing I found interesting was they had a girls’ quarter and a boys’ quarter. Each son practically had his own house.

We saw the slave house but unfortunately we couldn’t go in. The best partof the tour though was midway through, the tour guide stopped and sang aslave hymn for us. She had a wonderful voice. It made you want to cry.

Our events don’t start until Thursday, so last night we went to the trackto watch the first day of competition. It was fun just being a spectator andtaking it all in.