UConn Athletics photo

Last weekend at the NCAA East Regional, Hawthorne booked her ticket to Eugene, Oregon, for the NCAA Championships June 9 to 12. She will compete for the 100m title.

The Jamaican-born Hawthorne, who has a lifetime best of 11.40 secs in the 100m and 23.33 in the 200m, has inscribed her name on all of UConn’s indoor and outdoor sprint records; from the 55m to the 200m. In addition to re-writing UConn’s record books, the 20-year-old represented her country at the 12th IAAF World Junior Championships in Poland in 2008.

Big East Championship

With the desire to be the best, Hawthorne came into the 2010 season with a personal goal of capturing more titles and to make it to the NCAA Championships, where she hopes to make her mark. So far, she has accomplished both goals, defending her sprint double titles in both the 100m (11.44) and 200m (23.58) at the Big East Championship on May 2. She also ran the third leg of UConn’s victorious 4x1 relay team (45.05 secs). This is the second consecutive year that Hawthorne and her UConn teammates have stood atop the podium in the sprint relay.

The Big East Championship is all about the team, and since I am one of the team captains, I will have to push myself and my teammates so that we can win the title,” Hawthorne said prior to the Championship. “I find that I perform best when I do not put a lot of pressure on myself and just focus on the team.”

The UConn women finished 2nd with 101 points, just seven points behind the winner, University of Louisville (108 points). 
 
Born in St. Andrew, Jamaica, Hawthorne migrated to the USA in 2001 when she was 12.  She has three older brothers, who all did sports; her father was a high jumper and sprinter, and her mother, a long distance runner. 

Not only did Hawthorne run track at Dunrobin Prep School (for ages 6 – 12), but she also played netball. She recalls that she started running track competitively when she was 8 years old and that in her last year at Dunrobin, her team won the Primary School Netball Championship. 
  
High School in The US

After coming to the USA, the Hawthorne family moved to White Plains (Westchester) New York.  She was in the 7th grade and was not allowed to run track until the 9th grade. While waiting to compete, she played football (soccer) just to keep in shape because she hated going to track practice during junior high and high school years. Says Hawthorne: “My high school [Alexander Hamilton High] was very small and the track program was not well-established. The track coach was also the soccer coach and our science teacher.”

Hawthorne started winning all of her races and made the New York State High School finals in her freshman year. After that, there was more pressure on her to keep winning, even though it was fun for her.

“I am very competitive and I hate losing” Hawthorne notes. She recalls diving across the finish line a few times, just to secure victory.

During her senior year in high school in 2007, she set the Alexander High School records in the 100m (11.6), 200m (24.42), 300m (39.2). She ended her high school exploits by taking the New York State title.

While Hawthorne was in high school, her parents developed a relationship with Clive Terrolonge (Coach T) from UConn. “Coach T is from Jamaica and has accomplished a lot in track and field. At first I was undecided about Uconn; I wanted to go to college in Florida, where the weather was much better. But my parents wanted me to stay close to home so they could watch me compete.  So, I chose Uconn and I am very happy with that decision” she reflected.

Adjusting to College Life

Hawthorne admits that throughout high school she did not take training seriously. However, that attitude changed when she went to UConn because some of her teammates were faster than she was and she wanted to beat them. In her first Big East Conference Championship, she lost both the 60m and 200m to Pittsburgh’s Shantea Calhoun; with that loss, Hawthorne decided that she would not lose another Big East title.
 
Hawthorne recognizes that as a student-athlete, she finds that time management is the key to success on and off the track. She believes that things are hardest for the student-athlete. Citing herself as an example, Hawthorne notes that this season she had the conference championship and final exam just days apart and had to squeeze in time to read whenever she got a chance. In addition, she says, “as a student-athlete, you have no life, so your best friends are oftentimes your teammates, because they understand what you are going through.” 

World Juniors Experience

The vivacious Trisha Hawthorne was excited to finally run for Jamaica [at the World Juniors in Poland in 2008]. She competed in the 200m (24.12) heats and qualified for the semi-final, but in the end, she decided not to continue because of hamstring concerns. Going to Poland was bittersweet for her.

Of her World Junior experience Hawthorne said, “I learned a lot about myself. I gained confidence and I now have a better attitude of wanting to be better.”

The self-styled “daddy’s girl” feels privileged to have great parents whom he says are her biggest supporters who attend all her meets; they even traveled to Poland with her for the World Juniors.

Hawthorne wants to be a teacher; a direct result of watching her mother teaches Sunday school. Her mom is a pastor and her dad a bishop.

Hawthorne with her awards and coach Clive Terrolonge.                UConn Athletics photo

One of the things that people don’t know about this track star is that she’s a good singer. “But I only sing gospel songs,” she says.

Another is, she is a team leader and she is driven. “I am a better person now than I was as a freshman; I am more motivated” she said.  Hawthorne has a great relationship with her coaches, especially Clive Terrelonge (Coach T), the sprint coach who pushes and inspires her.

“There are times when I set certain goals for myself and he sets the bar even higher. He believes that I can go beyond what I believe” she says. Coach T is my back bone and [he] always tells me that talent and hard work can get me places.”

Now Trisha-Ann Hawthorne wants nothing more than to be on that podium in Eugene, Oregon on June 12.