‘I think this kid is going to surprise a lot of people’
University of Arkansas coach backs Reid to impress outdoors
Published:Sunday | April 9, 2023 | 1:05 AMHubert Lawrence - Gleaner Writer
JAMAICAN JOANNE Reid is coming into her own.
That’s the assessment by Reid herself and Chris Johnson, her coach at the University of Arkansas. A swift relay leg on the fastest indoor 4x400-metre team and a series of bright performances in 2023 during the season have Reid poised for greatness.
At 6” 1’, the leggy Reid tiptoes around 200-metre indoor tracks. Nevertheless, she set personal best times of 23.06 and 51.76 seconds for the indoor 200 and 400, respectively.
“I can just run and be free, so I feel like outdoors might be something nice if I just stay healthy and continue staying on the path I’m on right now,” she explained.
Competing in the thinner air of Albuquerque, New Mexico, at the recent NCAA Indoor Championships, she missed the 400 final but fired a 50.52 relay split as Arkansas clocked 3 minutes, 21.75 seconds.
“For my first season here, I had like some injuries going on, and he [Johnson] figured it out and he worked with me, and this season we spoke about what might be best and we changed like some stuff in my training programme,” recounted Reid.
“It started working out with him to be more confident in myself because lack of confidence sometimes really plays a part when you’re competing, and he just kept pushing me throughout this season and I started just working with it and stuff and believing in myself.”
Reid is starting to believe that she could join 2021 Olympians Charokee Young and Stacy-Ann Williams in a new generation of Jamaican 400-metre runners.
“I’ve always just thought about the 200 and not wanting to buy into the 400, but after this season, and just working with it, and even talking to Charokee at times at meets and just understanding it more, I feel like if I just buy into the 400 and work harder everyday, I might just be behind her and Stacy next, to be honest.”
Johnson thinks she has speed to burn.
“I don’t think that you guys have seen the footspeed she can produce just yet. So the 200’s not out of the question, but obviously I think the 400 would help the 200 and the 200 would help the 400 and we might sprinkle in a 100 in there, every now and then,” said the former St Jago High School star, who crowned a 2015 Boys and Girls’ Championships Class Four sprint double with a record in the 200.
The coach wants the 21-year-old to become the best version of herself.
“I always told her, ‘Joanne, you got to go back and look when you were young, and see what everyone else sees, see the ability that you have, and take that and run with it. Don’t shy away from that but also understand it’s your responsibility to yourself, your family and the country of Jamaica to actually walk into your greatness’,” said Johnson.
“So I think this kid is going to surprise a lot of people. More importantly, I think she’s going to surprise herself.”