Sport
Track & Field
Year
Second
Events
100m, 200m, 4x100m, 4x400m
Major
Communication
Nehemiah's Story
In football, running backs run as fast as they can toward the end zone.
In track and field, sprinters run as fast as they can toward the finish line.
Sound about the same to you? Not according to Nehemiah Brown.
"It's definitely a different sport," says Nehemiah. "You use different muscles. You've got to lift weights differently. You've got to have a different body composition."
He should know. After a couple years of focusing exclusively on football, Nehemiah is back on the track for the Coyotes' 2017 season.
During his years at Valhalla High School, Nehemiah starred both on the gridiron and in the starting blocks for the Norsemen. The sprint coach at the time was Renethia Hall...or, as Nehemiah calls her, "mom."
"She helped me run some good times," says Nehemiah.
That includes a 10.6 in the 100m and a 21.2 in the 200m, among the top ten times in the state.
But the most important question: Was she a better mom or a better coach?
"About the same at both," says Nehemiah. "Very good at both."
After high school, Nehemiah's football pursuits eventually led him to play for Grossmont College in 2015 and 2016. To open up more options for four-year schools, he decided to give track another shot as well.
"It definitely took me some time to catch up," says Nehemiah. But as the end of the year draws close, he seems to be hitting his stride.
At the PCAC Finals, he clocked a season-best 10.85 in the 100 meters -- a half-second faster than his first meet of the year. And in the prelims, he posted 200 meter time of 22.07 -- shaving more than a second off of his earlier marks from this year.
"It has been a challenge to get my times where they are now," says Nehemiah. "With the season coming to an end in the next couple weeks, 10.7 is definitely the goal."
His next chance will come this Saturday, May 6, at the SoCal Regional Prelims hosted by Cerritos College.