Home > Forums

Tierra Brown: Girls athlete of the year

Daily Press

Even when not challenged by her pursuers on the track, Hampton High senior Tierra Brown found motivation from within. It started with a goal she set in the preseason.

"Every time we go to a track meet, I wanted to break a record," she vowed. "And I did that."

Brown's spectacular indoor and outdoor seasons included a successful defense of her Group AAA 100 and 300 meter hurdles state crowns, as well as her first indoor state championship (55 hurdles).

Brown approaches life with a hurdler's mentality, looking ahead at a string of obstacles needing to be cleared and attacking them.

That's why even though wholly devoted to track since winning her first state championship as a freshman, she accepted the added responsibility of being class president this year.

"I missed out on so many things that others got to do because track was my life," Brown said, "but I didn't like the way certain things were running, so I interviewed for president, and they picked me."

Why not? Brown is a picture of efficiency gliding over the hurdles and regaining her stride. She also has a knack for meeting her goals.

Brown admits the indoor events are not her strongest, but she dedicated her focus on the 55 hurdles last winter. That led to a winning time of 8.01 seconds in the Peninsula District championships. It was the fastest time that day – male or female.

That was followed by a 7.92 in the state meet, securing the championship and the season's fastest time in the state.
In the outdoor campaign, more records fell.

Prior to Brown, no Peninsula District female had run the 100 hurdles in less than 14.0 seconds.
This year she posted seven 100 hurdles times better than that mark.

At the Nike Victor Cahoon Classic in Manassas, she was at her best with a 13.67, the season's top statewide time and a new meet record. She also bettered the 300 hurdles meet record.

At the district championships, she blitzed the field with a 13.89, and at the Group AAA state meet she ran away in 13.73.
During the Eastern Region championships, Brown's 41.82 seconds clocking in the preliminaries of the 300 hurdles shattered an 11-year old record, starting a string of three straight times below 42.0 seconds in that event.

The last of those times came in the state championship preliminaries, when a 41.62 temporarily made her the fastest in the nation this season.

In the finals, Brown's 42.10 time snapped that string and kept her from breaking the state meet standard, but she had reason to shrug it off.

"I didn't get the record, but at least I got the iPod," she said.

That referred to an incentive Crabbers coach Ron Bayton had dangled. He promised to replace her broken iPod if she broke any state meet marks.

"I can't complain about nothing," Brown said in reflecting upon her high school years. "I did what a lot of people dream to do."