The RoundHouse | 2/27/2020 3:13:00 PM
Taniyah McMillian grimaces a little as she describes running the 400 meters. It is a race she avoided, right up until the time she cranked out one of Wichita State's best times.
"It hurts," she said. "The pain – your legs, it's like you just can't feel them. They hurt so much you don't want to sit down, you don't want to walk. You don't know what to do."
Before recently, McMillian's experience with the distance consisted of relay races. Wichita State coaches saw the potential and put her in the 400 earlier this month at the Arkansas Qualifier. She ran a time of 54.87 seconds to rank second in Wichita State indoor history and finish seventh in the race.
Her feelings for the 400 changed right around the time she crossed the finish line in Fayetteville.
"Seeing how good I am at the race, I think it's kind of my calling," she said. "That's the race that was meant for me."
Wichita State's track and field teams will compete in the American Athletic Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships in Birmingham, Ala., on Friday and Saturday.
The Shocker women finished third in last season's indoor meet and won the American outdoor title. They expect to contend again, along with 2019 indoor champion Houston and 2018 champion Cincinnati.
Wichita State coach
Steve Rainbolt doesn't move sprinters to the 400 lightly. He watched McMillian run the distance in relays and talked with sprints coach
John Wise about her performances translating. She first told coaches she wanted to stick with the 60 and 200.
"For those people who have never done it, they just don't understand how tough it is," Rainbolt said. "You're using lactic acid as a fuel source, and it's unbelievably tough. I know that it's difficult for short sprinters. I think that she's going to find, like last weekend, that she has such success with it, I bet she falls in love with it. Who knows how good she can get?"
McMillian, a sophomore from Oklahoma City, will run the 200, the 400 and the 1,600 relay this weekend. Her school indoor record in the 200 is 24.10.
WSU's sprints group includes McMillian (the school's indoor record holder in the 200 and sixth in the 60),
Jacque Darby (third in the indoor 200 and seventh in the 60),
Paula Garcia (fourth in the 60 and ninth in the 200) and
Tianna Holmes (third in the 400).
In the American, however, Shocker coaches can't count on piling up points.
"I think this might be best women's sprint group we've ever had," Wise said. "And it's going to be hard to score points at the conference meet. (McMillian) is one of those really tough girls that has come into our team when we're joining one of the best sprint conferences in the country."
That competition pushes the Shockers.
"Looking at the times for the American, makes you want to go harder," she said. "You want to be the name that everybody remembers. You want to work harder so you're able to get up there."
Shockers coaches regard competitive spirit as one of McMillian's prime assets. She is running with a torn labrum in her right shoulder, an injury that impedes her arm motion. She wears a black brace during races to protect the injury.
"She came in super-raw, decent marks out of Oklahoma, but you could tell she was going to get better," Wise said. "She is probably one of the toughest people I've ever coached. She's super competitive and has a toughness about it. She's dealing with injuries that I think would sideline most people and she runs through them."
Paul Suellentrop covers Wichita State Athletics and the American Athletic Conference for university Strategic Communications. Story suggestion? Contact him at paul.suellentrop@wichita.edu.
