Go Turn by Turn with National Champion 4x400m Team

South Carolina’s sophomore Stephanie Davis, redshirt junior Aliyah Abrams, senior Tatyana Mills, and junior Wadeline Jonathas won the women’s 4x400m national championship on Saturday at the 2019 NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships. Each has enjoyed a different path and story leading up to this moment. Davis’ father was a conference champion in his collegiate days, while Abrams ran for Guyana in the 2016 Summer Olympics. Mills spent her first two years at Kingsborough Community College, where she was the NJCAA Athlete of the Year, while Jonathas won nine individual national championships at NCAA Division III UMass-Boston before transferring to South Carolina.

The quartet offers their first-person accounts on what it took to be No. 1 on the biggest stage after finishing second behind Texas A&M by a few hundredths of a second at couple of meets earlier this year, including the SEC Championships.

First Leg – Stephanie Davis

“Before the race is the worst part, because I’m nervous. My body is trying to prepare me for all the adrenaline. I know I have to run my hardest for the team. When the gun goes off, that’s when I get into beast mode and do what I have to do to execute the race like I’m supposed to.

“I knew I got out pretty good. Once it was time to cut the break, I didn’t win the break, so I had to come up with a strategy. I just had to stay right behind the person that was in front of me and try to pass them when it was time to hand the baton off.

“The close races we had before motivated me a lot. I knew that if we were that close to Texas A&M, we could beat them. It gave me a lot of confidence.

“I love being the first one done. You get it out of the way and you get to enjoy the rest of the race and cheer on your teammates. It’s also a scary moment because anything can happen.”

:53.17

Second Leg – Aliyah Abrams

“Our mindset going into the race was that we were going to win. Our coaches were constantly telling us that. We all knew what we had to do to make that happen, and we were all prepared to fight the battle that we would have to fight.

“When Stephanie was bringing me the stick, I knew she’d put us in first place, so I had to get out and keep us going. I had a run a race a few hours before, but I had to ignore what my body was feeling. I just kept pushing.

“I kept hearing my coaches on the side saying, ‘Go now! Go now!’ Toward the end, I just started going and gave it everything I had left.

“When I was getting ready to hand off the stick to Tatyana, I thought that I had done what I had to do, so I was ready to give it off and pray that she was going to be able to do what she needed to as well. I knew that Taty was ready, so I was confident.

:51.89

“We’re all here because we’ve earned it. It’s not given to us.”
– Wadeline  Jonathas

Third Leg – Tatyana Mills

“For me, every meet is a mental battle, even though I’ve been doing this for so long. I don’t want to disappoint the people I’m running for.

“In our first couple of races against Texas A&M, we had barely lost. The third time around, it was easier because we had raced them before, and we knew what to expect.

“I was ready, but I was a little scared. When I got the baton I thought, ‘I can’t lose the lead.’

“As I was going around, I thought that I needed to give Wadeline a great lead, but that didn’t work out the way I thought. I kept us in the game though.

“When I made the handoff, I knew she was going to come through for all of us.”

:54.13

Fourth Leg – Wadeline Jonathas

“I was really nervous. My mindset was that as long as Taty (Mills) doesn’t fall too far back, I would be fine.

“You have to take it one step at a time. I got the baton, and it was me and the Florida runner, with Texas A&M and Arkansas in front of us. I wasn’t worried about who else was ahead. I just had to get ahead of Florida, and then make my way up and reach Arkansas, and then reach Texas A&M. I knew I had it in me, because I was mentally prepared for this.

“I knew I just had to run the race. I was patient the whole time, and when it was time to kick, I just went!

“I knew I was going to be tired, but you just have to run through the pain. It was a painful race.

“Coach Karim and Coach Frye do so much. They work with me to know my strengths and weaknesses.  We were closer to Texas A&M every time we raced. We knew that it was okay when we lost to them before, because we were learning from it. That made us acknowledge that there are people out there who can run faster than us. We had to go into this race fearless.

“When I crossed the line, I didn’t know we had won until I looked at the board. Then I thought, ‘this can’t be real.’ Then the pain kicked in, and I just collapsed to the ground. I was very happy. It felt so good.”

:51.59

End of Race

(Davis) “I was excited. I was jumping up and down on the sidelines when I saw Wadeline cross the finish line first! I was so happy. I ran over and gave (Wadeline) a hug. We all ran up to her, and it was a great moment.”

(Abrams) “What made this race different was the last leg. Wadeline was able to run a clean race without having to worry about having shoulders or elbows on her. None of her momentum was broken, so she had a lot more to give at the end. I saw her making moves, and I thought, ‘oh my gosh, we’re really going to win!’ I was so overjoyed.”

“Being a national champion means all of your work has paid off and at the right time. This is one of my favorite moments. Winning as a team on this stage is so important. For people to see that we are the Gamecocks, and we just won the national championship means so much.”

(Mills) “When it was over, my first instinct was to jump and run over and hug Wadeline. Coach (Curtis) Frye and (assistant) Coach Karim (Abdel Wahab) have helped me a lot in the past year and a half. Coach Karim created a much different environment, and it made me ready for this type of competition.  Coming from a D-3 junior college, winning a national championship at this level means a lot. I always wanted to win a medal at nationals, but to get a gold is a really good feeling.

(Jonathas) “Being a national champion means you have to be the best of the best, and you have to be the best of the best at the right moment. It doesn’t mean anything if you can’t do it when it matters the most.

“My team – we don’t underestimate each other. We’re all here because we’ve earned it. It’s not given to us. We put in a lot of hard work, and we definitely knew we had it in us.  We click. We just click.”