During the JDL College Kickoff, Christian Harrison placed second in the 1000 meter run with a time of 2:28.46, to break the school record.

Harrison’s record-breaking performance did not surprise Duane Ross, A&T’s director of Track & Field programs. The only question he had was when Harrison was going to beat it. “Christian, he’s just a different type of athlete. Each day that I’ve known him, he’s come out here and his work ethic has gotten even better,” he said.

Following the Kickoff, the sophomore from Landover, Md. ran a 2:29 in the 1000 meter race at the Virginia Tech Invitational. “I wanted to prove to myself, prove to my coaches that I was faster than the 2:29,” said Harrison and he did. Harrison took first place in the 1000 meter run at the Penn State Invitational with a time of 2:28.18, slightly beating his previous time.

Despite Harrison making history this early into the track season, breaking the school record is not something that he is most proud of. He feels at the end of the day he is not competing to break school records but to be at his personal best. “There are still people that are faster than me and at the end of the day, I want to be faster than all of those people,” he said.

Harrison’s main goal for this season is to make it past the MEAC Championships and advance to Nationals.

Last season, he was not able to advance to Junior Nationals because of an injury.

“I want to go further and make some noise,” he said.

However, if Harrison were to make it past the MEAC Championship to Nationals, the 1000 meter race would not be the event he would participate in, for it is not a part of either meets.

Yet, running over distance will work in Harrison’s favor because it will make him stronger and a better competitor for the 800, 1500, and 1600.

Harrison runs both track and cross country which gives him an edge up on the competition. “A lot of my 800 competition, they don’t do cross country or if they do they don’t take it serious,” he said. In order to prepare for a track meet during the week, Harrison tries to focus on his diet. He admits he has never been good with his eating habits, so that is something he tries to crack down on by eating three meals a day and watching what he consumes. He also confessed that he had not been an advocate of stretching but last season senior distance runner, Paris Reddick-Simmons, stressed how important it is.

“After I started stretching more, my times started dropping and I started feeling better while I was running,” said Harrison.

While other runners are busy tuning out the world, putting on a serious face and getting in the zone the day of a track meet, Harrison is opposite. He likes to stay relaxed, and not think about his race too much. “I listen to my music. I love to laugh. I like to stay loose, and joke around a little bit,” he said. When it’s almost time to start his event, his likes to settle down on the joking a bit, visualize his race and what he should and should not do.

Since Harrison is only a sophomore, there are a few upperclassmen on the team that he takes advice from. Reddick-Simmons, who Harrison said is very humble, told him to stay humble and hungry. Harrison says that he has also learned from Reddick-Simmons that he can speak anything into existence. “It’s a lot that you can take from, from all of the upperclassmen,” he said.

Academically, Harrison also strives for excellence, for he is one of the student-athletes who made the Dean’s List.

According to Harrison, he did not always have the best grades and was considered an average student in high school, but that has changed since he has entered N.C. A&T. “For me to not have gotten a C since high school is definitely something that I’m proud of,” he said. Harrison’s major is entrepreneurship and he plans to start a tech company with a friend from back home which focuses on wireless technology.

Although running seems to be Harrison’s forte, he did play other sports as a kid such as football, t-ball, soccer and basketball. Harrison once had dreams of going to Duke University to play basketball and ultimately play in the NBA, but he soon realized that he should start focusing on track. “I still love basketball. I miss basketball a lot but some things you got to leave behind,” he said.

At first, Harrison’s motivation for running was so his parents would not have to pay for college, but soon after, he grew a passion for the sport. Last season when Harrison was injured, he realized that he could not see himself not being able to run track. “It’s not something I just do to pay for school, not something I just do to stay fit – I love running track,” he said.

Harrison has actually been running track since he was nine years old. He started off as a sprinter because while he was younger, he was one of the fastest and strongest. However as time went on, his peers became faster and stronger than he was, so he moved from the 100 and 200 sprinting events to the 400, 800 and eventually the 3000 distance events. After being promoted to the 3000, he became a junior Olympic competitor for the 3000 meter race.

Harrison would always get first or second place in his heat but would miss the top eight by one or two spots. “Considering how many people ran the 3000 and to know that I was top 10 or top 15, I guess you could say it was good,” he said.

Although this is Harrison’s second year with the Track program, he has had three different coaches as the programs goes through a transitional phase. “You have to be willing to adapt. You can’t rebel, you have to be open to new things, new ideas, new people, new workouts, new strategies, and new tactics,” he said. “He does what we ask him to do, no questions asked,” said Ross.

While he has already beaten the school’s record for the 3,000, he has another goal in mind. His personal record for the 800 meter race is 1:52 and by the end of this season, he hopes to beat that time and be consistently under 1:50.

Harrison’s senior year at N.C. A&T will be an Olympic year. “You can say a big dream of mine will be to run in the Olympics for my country. I think that’s safe to say,” he said.

Ross was a former 2004 Olympian and participated in the Athens Olympics. He believes that Harrison is very capable of making it to the Olympic games and when he decides he wants to do something, he can get it done. “He’s a leader. I’m happy to say that, and I’m very proud of him,” said Ross.

Email Uniqua at [email protected] and follow The Register on Twitter @TheATRegister

• Uniqua Quillins, Register Reporter