Track & Field Report: Tyra Gittens details her journey to Texas A&M

Texas A&M Track & Field athlete Tyra Gittens joined coach Pat Henry in-studio for this week's Athlete Spotlight on the Track & Field Report to look back on her journey to Aggieland and her dreams of competing for Trinidad & Tobago in the upcoming Olympic Games.

Key notes from Pat Henry interview

• I think we have to build our culture around track a little bit more in our community. I've been here for 17 years, and we've only run three outdoor track meets. That tells you a little bit about where we've been. We have to get people coming back into the stadium. This last week was good, and we just have to keep getting better.
   
• Trya Gittens was fantastic. She had a great day. Our ladies’ 4x400m relay team was great. Arkansas has the best time in the country, but it's a very slim margin. We beat them head-to-head this weekend. That was good. On the men's side, we had some good performances up and down the whole group. We got better in the half-mile. Brandon Miller was good. Our jumping events were good. Carter Bajoit was good this weekend. Lamara Distin jumped six-foot-plus this weekend in the high jump. Across the board, we had a pretty good weekend.
   
• With our ladies relay team, they're all running very well this weekend. We had another one pop up in the B relay, which will help us as well. We're starting to develop some depth there.
   
• Syaira Richardson has looked good. She's sick right now and won't run this weekend. Last weekend, she won her race. She needs those kinds of meets. You need to be able to double, and she's doing it.
   
• Laila Owens is the one that is coming along and popped up in the B relay. She's our best 200m runner right now, and she is really coming along as a freshman. We need that from her right now.
   
• If you have another four people that can run the relay, it helps you develop that depth. Practice is practice. We never get everything out of ourselves in practice. Meet day people are the ones that step up. Sometimes you can't find them in practice, but when you put them in competitive situations, people pop out of the woodwork. It would help if you had those people.
   
• Brandon Miller is a great competitor. He will do what it takes to win the race that he's in. If there is a competitor that could run a 1:46, he could run a 1:46 to win that race.
   
• We don't have wins and losses. We're a one-shot sport. When you get to the conference meet, you have one shot at moving on to the NCAAs and moving on after that. Beating the people you're competing against is all that is important in our sport.
   
• Connor Schulman won the race. It wasn't a fast time, but he won the race. With our 4x100m, we're not passing the baton well right now. Devon Achane did not run that event right now. Bryce Deadmon has a chance to run on the 4x100m soon, but he's leading the country in the 400m. I'm a little cautious about having my quarter-milers run the 100m.
   
• I was glad to see the fans that we had in the stands. We have the potential to put many more in the stands. We are the best-suited facility in the country to host a track meet because we have a warm-up track. No one in the country has something like that.
   
• We're always hoping to put people in a competitive situation and leaving healthy. When you run, jump and throw at a top level and stay healthy, you can accomplish quite a bit. Staying consistency allows you to do some special stuff.
   
• This weekend, most of the Big 12 will be at Baylor, and a lot of Texas schools will be there. We're the only SEC team competing in Waco this weekend.

Key notes from Tyra Gittens interview

• When I read what coach Henry said about me, some of my teammates in Trinidad sent it to me. My hands started to sweat. It holds a lot of weight when coach Henry says it, and it is truly an honor.
   
• I wish my story had more pizzazz to it, but I struggle to express how I ended up at Texas A&M. I almost didn't take a visit here, but we were at a junior Olympics meet in Humble. My dad said, "Let's go." The moment I stepped foot on campus, I knew this is where I needed to be. I'm definitely a spiritual person and believe God put me here for a reason. Only great things have happened for me here at Texas A&M, and I'm thankful to represent this university.
   
• One thing I keep reminding myself is to not let the day get away. I had meniscus surgery after my sophomore year, and I didn't start applying myself after that. Until then, I was only going off of talent and not hard work. I started practicing with intention. I wanted to get better each and every day. It was the small things. In practice, I didn't let the day get away. The small things led to bigger things, and then boom.
   
• My favorite even is the heptathlon. I have a lot of energy and cannot do just one event. If I had to choose, I'd go with high jump. That's my baby. I really feel like I'm flying. There's a split moment when your hips go over the bar when you know you've done it and start celebrating before your body even hits the mat.
   
• My second best event, I'd like to say, is long jump, but hurdles are probably it. After my surgery, I've had to build my confidence up with hurdles. Point-wise, javelin is the most difficult, but mentally, the 800m has always been my Achilles heel. Not until I've started putting more work in during quarantine was I able to build my confidence in that event.