Sprinting is the only event in track that I would be able to finish, even if my time was not ideal.

Junior McKenzie White runs sprints and hurdles for the SIU track team. She ran on the distance medley last season, which was the third-best time in school history and made her an All-Conference athlete.

I have not consistently run since high school gym, but running 30 meters wasn’t too difficult.

Sprints coach Chidi Enyia told me he was going to blow two whistles. The first whistle was to get in the set position and the second meant to run like the wind.

As soon as the first whistle blew, I got in my best position to launch from the ground, but I had no idea of the best way to do so.

The second whistle blew and White was already ahead of me. There was no chance I would catch her. Enyia said he wasn’t keeping my time, but I probably wouldn’t want to know my time anyway.

A 30-meter dash is not much at all. If one runner beats another runner by half a second, they dominated them. White beat me by roughly one second, and she’s just getting over a minor hamstring injury.

The shortest distance sprinters run in competition is 60 meters. Even with our shortened race, White steadily separated herself from me throughout.

I did not warm up near as much as White, and my shoes were worn down compared to her spikes, but that’s no excuse. White dominated the race.

Enyia said the only way to practice sprinting is to actually sprint. He said if I ran 10 to 15 30-meter dashes every day, my time would improve by at least two seconds within two weeks.

White said her best event was the 400-meter hurdles. Luckily for me, there weren’t any hurdles in the track complex. If there were, I would trip over the first one and step over the rest of them to make sure I did not get hurt. Her time would be at least 10 seconds faster.

White said she’s been on a track team since middle school. Her middle school coach encouraged her to run hurdles at a meet, and she picked it up quickly.

Enyia said sprinting is completely different from distance running. He said it’s hard for athletes in either event do well in the other one. I would challenge White to a mile race, but by the time I finished, White would have finished and been able to take a nap. My best mile in high school was 8:19, and my average was 9:30.

I’m guessing every distance runner, sprinter, jumper, thrower and coach on the track and field roster could beat me in any distance competition.

The SIU track and field team has its first outdoor meet of the season this weekend in Carbondale. The men and women’s teams finished third in conference for the indoor season.

Aaron Graff can be contacted at [email protected], @Aarongraff_DE or 536-3311 ext. 269