June 13, 2003

Senior Aleen Bailey sat down with uscsports.com for a Q&A session from the NCAA Championships in Sacramento, Calif.

Does reaching the finals of the 100 and 200m dash races mean anything extra to you since this is your senior year and your last meet representing South Carolina?

The NCAA Championships mean a lot to me as a senior. I want to do my best to help our team win the national championships and to “go out with a bang.” Last year we sent out our seniors and national champions and that is something I want to do in that position this year. I really don’t think about the individual stuff or how this is my last meet at USC. I am focused on what I can do to help our team. That is what this weekend is all about.

How do you prepare for the schedule of multiple races and stay focused for them at a meet of this level?

The one-lappers we did early in the season with Coach Frye prepared us for this. That is something that prepared us well for this time of year when you have races on a daily basis. Now the season is like a run through of the preparation we had early in the year. It is a good thing to have many races to run because the more I run the faster I get. Mentally, the schedule is something you just do not think about. You do what you do in practice, don’t get nervous and just deal with it.

How have you dealt with the climate of Sacramento with warm days and cool nights and has that affected how you race?

The weather in Sacramento has not had an effect on me. Sometimes we have similar conditions in Columbia when we have hot days, then rain and it cools off. We still have to finish our workouts in those conditions, so it really is not that different. The day is warm and when it cools off at night, you continue to think that it is warm.

When you are away from the track, how do you spend your time preparing and what are you doing to get to clear your mind and get away from thinking about track?

To prepare away from the track I run the races in my head. I visualize the races and the things I did in practice over and over to get it into my head. Physically, I try to get lots of sleep. When I want to get away from thinking about track, I talk to my fianc? and my friends on the phone. I also bug my roommate, Antoinette Wilks.

What does the near future hold for Aleen Bailey?

I will be running in the Jamaican Championships next weekend and try to win a National Championships there. After that I will return to Columbia to complete my class and finish summer school. Track-wise, I will work with Coach Frye and focus on running in the World Championships.