By ANDREW CANGIANO
Last year, Ocean Township High School sprinter Georgina Nembhard got to learn from senior star Tiffany Grant, as the pair finished first and second in the 200 meter dash at the Monmouth County Relays in 2006.
As a senior this year, Nembhard will try to teach what she has learned from Grant to a new class of Spartans.
I would have loved to have gone out the same time [Grant] did, but at the same time all the same things that she taught me I want to teach it to the younger kids, Nembhard said, and I want to know if I learned from what she taught me.
And I definitely think I have, because even with the workouts, my coaches have been telling me Im doing it so much different than I used to do it, the senior said. And thats because now that shes not there, Im the one that has to lead the workouts.
Georgina Nembhard
Even though Grant and Nembhard are no longer teammates, they still talk on the phone frequently, Nembhard said.
The two will be able to visit with one another soon enough anyways, as Nembhard will enroll at the University of Georgia in the fall, and Grant attends nearby Georgia Tech.
However, before heading south, Nembhard has a chance to dominate the Shore Conference this spring.
The senior said she plans to continue to run the 100, 200, and 100 meter high hurdles and will also add long jumping this season.
After running a time of 24.65 to win the county championship last year, Nembhard said she hopes to break the 24 second mark in the 200 meters.
She said she would also like to shave time off her 100 meter dash time of 11.95, which earned her first place in the county as a junior.
Id like this year to go low 11s, she said.
Nembhard said she believes that she has added strength from a year ago, which she hopes will help her to lower her time in the 100 hurdles.
Im a lot stronger this year, she said.
That was just on my speed, Nembhard said about her best times in the hurdles last year, but with my strength this year Im hoping to go about 14 [seconds] flat and in the 13s would be great.
The Spartans, who have moved to the B-North division of the Shore Conference this year, have a team full of talented freshman this year, Nembhard said.
Our teams very young this year, she said.
The senior said she was looking forward to an intra-squad scrimmage Wednesday that pitted freshman/seniors against sophomores/juniors.
In fact, Nembhard said making practice fun for the younger runners is something she is trying to stress this year.
I think thats the thing, especially when youre a freshman, she said about getting younger runners to relish the workouts.
You dont want to get them dreading coming to practice because then you dont see them next year and I dont want that.
I think the younger people look up to me because Im just as goofy as they are, the senior laughed.
While Nembhard said she cant help how long or difficult a workout is, she tries to encourage the younger Spartans runners as they train on the track.
She said she hopes that when she comes back from college break next year, she will be able to see that this years underclassmen are still a part of the team.
I really dont want to know that someone left because they didnt like it, so right now I try to make it fun, she said.
Ocean opens its track season at home against Neptune on April 11 at 3:45 p.m.
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