At this weekend’s VHSL Group AAA State Championships, many teams will only have one or two athletes entered. Western Branch can enter 10…in one race.
Desmonae Gray, Taranisha Taylor, Shamia Lassiter, Devin Mitchell, Alana Calhoun, Tiffany Ellick, Javette Lee, Ramona Thomas, Cierra Cutshaw, and Jamesha Richard are the young ladies who claim 10 of the top 20 spots in the Group AAA hurdle rankings this season. All 10 are at the state qualifying mark of 8.66 or better. Only 3 (Gray, Richard, and VMI signee Cutshaw) are seniors. This is a truly ridiculous and dominant group of runners, led by 2 highly-acclaimed coaches.
The Coaches
Coach Claude Toukene is the face of Western Branch track, shaking hands with seemingly everyone at meets and constantly pausing to offer words of advice or congratulations to other coaches. Now in his 7th year at the helm of one of the state’s all-time great programs, Toukene has won multiple state championships and always has great depth on his teams.
Toukene’s program is grounded in respect: respect for self, respect for teammates, respect for competitors. The former Olympian for his home country of Cameroon develops the whole kid, caring about them as a person first, a student second, and an athlete third. He teaches his athletes that “it’s cool to be intelligent,” that school matters more than track.
Toukene is quick to deflect praise, however, when it comes to his hurdlers and gives assistant coach Karriem Pierre all the credit for the girls’ success this year. “I let him do his thing and stay out of his way,” Toukene says, showing the great trust the former Norfolk State teammates have in each other. Pierre says, “When Claude took over [at Western Branch], he called me and said, ‘You have to come out.’”
So Pierre, a 3-time national champion in the 110m hurdles (in 2003, 2004, and 2006) for his home country of Trinidad and Tobago, brought his hurdling expertise to the Bruins. Expertise is truly the right word, as Pierre earned an invitation to try out for T&T’s Olympic team in 2009 and still competes unattached in sprints and hurdle races at local meets. Despite his skill, after a few minutes with Pierre, you learn that he’d rather not talk about himself, but about his athletes.
The Athletes
You can see it in their eyes and hear it in their speech. The track smarts. The drive and determination. Above all, the Western Branch female hurdlers exude the confidence that comes with great training.
Five of them stand around just after their team claimed yet another Eastern Region title and sound bytes start flying:
“Winning is what we do.”
“Winning is who we are.”
“We work hard.”
“We train hard.”
“Track is our life.”
If track is indeed their life, these ladies are doing a fine job living it. The Bruins took 6 of the top 7 spots in the 55m hurdles at the Southeastern District meet, scoring 27 points in one race. The next weekend, they came back to take 1st, 2nd 4th, and 6th in the finals of the Eastern Region meet, scoring 23 points. The hurdlers alone would have tied for 7th place in the team standings. Of course, there is still the astonishing figure of 10 girls qualified for the state meet, all 10 girls at 8.66 or better.
The ladies are led by senior Desmonae Gray, ranked 7th in the nation in the 55m hurdles. Gray is also ranked 2nd in the triple jump (teammate Keilah Tyson is #1) and 11th in the long jump. In the Eastern Region meet, Gray took 2nd in the hurdle finals. After the race, Gray talked about training hard every day and staying “focused and determined.” “I wanted to run 8.0 today,” she says, “but I’ll get it at States.”
Junior Shamia Lassiter, the Eastern Region champion, is actually much better at the 300m hurdles outdoor than she is at the indoor distance, according to Coach Pierre. Junior Alana Calhoun also confesses to looking forward to the outdoor season, feeling that she is stronger at the longer distances.
Junior Taranisha Taylor took 4th in the finals at Regionals after running a personal-best 8.23 in the prelims. Her prelims time ranks her 4th in Group AAA; teammates Gray and Lassiter hold two of the spots ahead of her. This is Taylor’s first year running the 55 hurdles. “I started the year at 8.65 and now I’m at 8.23,” she says. You can tell by the way she speaks that she’s determined to go even lower at States.
Senior Ramona Thomas might have had the best performance of the meet for the Western Branch girls. Her time of 8.62 did not place, but she did just dip under the state qualifying mark with a big personal-best. Thomas, who just started running the 55s this year, came into the meet with a top mark of 9.04, yet cut over four-tenths off in about a week’s time to become the 10th and final Bruin to qualify for states.
It was amazing to hear the girls consistently mention something they could improve on their race, even if they had just PRed or won the Region. That shows how much the girls have bought into the system of Coaches Toukene and Pierre, a system of gradual development designed to have them peak at the right time.
The System
According to Pierre and Toukene, all Western Branch athletes are exposed to hurdles, jumps, and throws when they first come out for track. That doesn’t mean, Pierre says, that all of his hurdlers now liked hurdles from day one. “Desmonae Gray, hated the hurdles. Taranisha Taylor, hated the hurdles, “ Pierre says with a laugh. “But then they saw how fast they were and said, ‘hey, I can be pretty good at this.’”
By focusing on form and technique, Pierre has developed his hurdlers into the fine crew they are today. He talks a good deal about speed, whether it’s speed to the first hurdle or speed in between the hurdles. Pierre also teaches fundamentals such as body position over the hurdles and has been known to get on the track and show his athletes what he is looking for.
The athletes only work on hurdles 2 days a week (Tuesday and Thursday), focusing on speed work and meet preparation the other 3 days. The hurdlers also lift weights 3 times a week and have a strong mileage base from a cross country season that Pierre describes in one word: “mandatory.” Much of the team also participates in summer track so they can train year-round.
The question of competition and rivalry among such a talented group of athletes inevitably arises. “Practice is competitive,” Pierre says, smiling, “but I don’t allow them to race.” Pierre says that the runners who are “slower” (if that term even fits) are determined to be tops on the team by the end of the season.
Alana Calhoun echoes her coach’s thoughts about practice. “We motivate each other, but we’re really competing against the clock and ourselves.” To a one, the girls agree that having high-caliber competition to train with makes them better.
After races, Pierre and the girls break down their efforts individually. He can quickly rattle off what each girl struggles with. “Desmonae, her start and speed between the hurdles come gradually. Taranisha, if you watch her, she runs up on the hurdles and gets too close. Alana just learned how to 3-step three or four weeks ago.”
Pierre’s advice is shared with the girls and they take it to heart. For instance, Calhoun also says that she still needs to work on attacking the hurdles. This was shortly after a personal-record race in which she took 6th in the Eastern Region. Gray wasn’t satisfied with her time, but knows exactly what she needs to do to run it at States.
In describing how the pieces fit together, many of the girls said, “Kareem coaches the hurdles. Touks works with us on blocks. We put it together for the race.”
For the immediate future, Coach Pierre is crystal clear about his goal for the State meet: “I want 10 girls in the finals.”
Taranisha Taylor had perhaps the best comment on the dominance of the Bruin hurdle program: “Practice is like States.” If the success of the Western Branch ladies so far is any indication, the finals at States might look a lot like a Western Branch practice.