FAYETTEVILLE — University of Arkansas junior Britton Wilson didn’t waste any time setting the outdoor collegiate record in the women’s 400 meters.
In Wilson’s first meet of the outdoor season two weeks ago at the Tom Jones Memorial in Gainesville, Fla., she won the 400 in a collegiate-record time of 49.51 seconds.
Wilson also set the collegiate record in the 400 indoors when she ran 49.48 to win at this year’s NCAA Championships in Albuquerque, N.M.
“I think I knew that I could do it, but I didn’t know if it would be my very first race of the season,” Wilson said of adding the collegiate 400 outdoor record to her list of accomplishments. “It was just very special to me to be able to go out there and be healthy and compete and run a good race.”
Wilson will be back on the track today to run the 400-meter hurdles at the LSU Invitational in Baton Rouge.
“Honestly, if I didn’t set the collegiate record, I would still have a goal to get better by the next meet,” she said. “Obviously, it’s super cool that I set the collegiate record, but my next goal is just to run faster and execute better. Fix little things in each race.”
Wilson won the 400 hurdles at the NCAA Championships last year, then took second at the U.S. Championships and fifth at the World Championships.
That level of success in the 400 and the 400 hurdles begs the question: Which is Wilson’s best event?
“I don’t know,” she said. “I like both of the races. I like to push myself in both events and see how fast I can go in them, because I know that I push myself really hard at practice.
“So I like to be able to see what the outcome is when I’m lined up with the competition.”
Wilson said training for both events helps her speed and stamina.
“I think they very much bounce off of each other and both help me become better at each,” she said.
The day before Wilson set the collegiate 400 record in Gainesville, she won the 400 hurdles in this season’s world-leading time of 53.23, which also ranks third on the all-time collegiate list.
“Britton’s performance on that weekend was nothing short of phenomenal,” said Arkansas assistant Chris Johnson, who coaches the sprinters and hurdlers. “Coming back off of a fantastic 400-meter hurdle race, to set the college record in the 400, I think that’s kind of missed.
“That’s the fastest of any collegiate athlete ever, and that includes a lot of international athletes as well.
“For her to do that speaks to her maturity and to her athletic abilities, but also to the level of work and intensity. More importantly, the level of focus and execution under the stress of a race.”
Wilson is in her second year training with Johnson after transferring from Tennessee.
“It’s remarkable what she does, and I think it’s a tribute to her talent, but also to the bond between her and Coach Johnson,” Arkansas Coach Lance Harter said. “Because that magic just continues to escalate from week to week and season to season.
“Whatever she puts her mind to doing, she’s more than capable of handling it.”
Harter is retiring at the end of the outdoor season and Johnson will be promoted to head coach of Arkansas’ women’s cross country and track and field programs.
“I felt like last year when I got here, I was kind of scared to talk to [Johnson] about stuff,” Wilson said. “I was a little shy.
“Now that we’ve built a stronger relationship, it makes everything so much easier, because I can come to him when I’m sad about something or worried about something. I’m very comfortable with him and our relationship.”
Johnson said it takes time for coaches and athletes to build trust with each other.
“What you’re seeing this year is Britton having an understanding of me, and me having an understanding of her,” Johnson said. “And us being able to communicate effectively to get the results that we’re getting.
“We look for a level of consistency. You’ve always got to be pleased with what she’s done thus far, but I think she can run faster. She has high-caliber goals.”
Wilson’s record-setting performances this season indoors and outdoors are all the more impressive because her training last fall was impacted by shin injuries.
“I was doing a lot of cross-training and not really being able to train the way that I had wanted to, and how I trained last year,” Wilson said. “Obviously it was a physical battle just trying to get healthy and trying not to be in so much pain. But mentally it was really hard for me, just because I felt like I was behind everyone else and I was seeing everyone else train and progress in the workouts, and I felt like I wasn’t.
“It took a lot of grounding myself and sitting down and trusting that Coach Johnson knew what he was doing to get me to where I needed to be, and that he had my best interests at heart.
“It was definitely a hard few months, but I trust Coach Johnson with everything, and it all worked out, taking it day by day and not trying to worry about everything in the future.”