Following historic double at California championship meet, Texas A&M signee looks to join Waller as Golden State’s only girls 400-meter winners at Brooks PR Invitational

By Erik Boal, DyeStat Editor

Tierra Robinson-Jones spent the majority of her career at Bishop O’Dowd High trying to track down one great 400-meter runner in California after another.

When it came time for her fourth appearance at the CIF-State Track and Field Championships at Buchanan High’s Veterans Memorial Stadium in Clovis, all that was left to do Saturday night for Robinson-Jones was to chase history.

Robinson-Jones became only the fourth female athlete in the 45 years that girls competition has been included at the championship meet to capture state titles in both the 200 and 400, joining Granada Hills Kennedy’s Denean Howard (1982), Long Beach Wilson’s Kinshasa Davis (1997) and San Diego Morse’s Monique Henderson (2000).

Henderson and Howard are the all-time state 400 leaders at 50.74 and 50.87 – along with Nos. 2 and 3 in U.S. prep history – and Davis ranks No. 17 in California history.

“The only word I keep thinking of is ‘special.’ What she did is pretty special, working with her has been special and that she’s such a great kid off the track as well, it makes it all worth it,” Bishop O’Dowd coach Jamal Cooks said. “She wanted to run as close to 52-flat as possible and she got close to that, so that was special. Being top 20 in California history is special. The whole weekend was just special.”

Robinson-Jones, who returned home late Saturday to attend graduation Sunday morning, ran the second-fastest 400 time in the country this year by clocking 52.37 seconds, followed by a 23.66 in the 200 to edge defending state champion Ariyonna Augustine of Long Beach Poly, who ran 23.70.

“It’s an amazing feeling. I’m really proud of myself, but I’m still in shock. All I can say is, ‘Wow,’ literally, just, ‘Wow!’” said Robinson-Jones, who elevated to No. 15 in California 400 history, along with being a top 50 all-time prep performer.

“Coach, my mom and I have a group chat and he laid out all the NCS women who have won multiple championships and he put 2018 and a bunch of question marks. So I was like, ‘Why don’t we test the waters a little bit (with the 200)?’ But I’m still shocked because I beat a lot of hardcore sprinters.”

Robinson-Jones, a Texas A&M signee, won’t have to worry about the 200 again Friday night at the Brooks PR Invitational because she and fellow North Coast Section talent Alexis Surrell of Newark Memorial – fourth in the state final in 54.20 – are returning to race the 400 in Shoreline, Wash., after placing fifth and sixth last year.

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“All my friends are like, ‘Let’s hang out,’ and I’m like, ‘I’ve got Brooks, I’ve got another meet, I can’t, my track season isn’t over yet.’ And they’re like, ‘Tierra, come on.’ And I’m like, ‘I got invited … I’m not going to miss it to hang out with you guys,’” Robinson-Jones said. “My social life is at zero due to track and track is at 200 (percent).”

After placing seventh, fourth and second the past three years in the 400 at the state championship meet, watching Buchanan’s Hannah Waller and Norco’s Shae Anderson – now teammates at Oregon – win titles, along with Carson’s Kaelin Roberts, currently a freshman at USC, Robinson-Jones made additional sacrifices during the past year in order to achieve her lofty goals.

She gave up playing in the school band, despite working her way up to first chair in the clarinet, adopted a healthier diet and continued to run cross country in an effort to build greater endurance.

“It’s just the culmination of four years of hard work,” Cooks said. “Tierra winning the state in the 400, that was her objective, forever. To get second last year and come back and win this year was the goal. Part of what makes her great is she has learned to be diligent, she has learned to be patient and she trusts what she can do. All of that is what made up a great (Saturday) night.”

Robinson-Jones also took pride in the fact that, for the first time in state history, three female athletes from the North Coast Section placed in the top four in the 400, with Santa Rosa senior Kirsten Carter taking third in 54.07. Carter also attended the Brooks PR Invitational last year with Robinson-Jones and Surrell, finishing eighth in the 400.

“You hear a lot online about the Southern California kids, but you don’t hear a lot about the North Coast Section, so it feels good to show up and show out,” Surrell said. “It’s been a challenge to try to keep up with (Tierra), but she’s made me work harder and she’s made all of us better.”

Robinson-Jones also joined Michelle Decoux – who swept the 100- and 300-meter hurdles titles in 1988 – along with two-time 800 winner Miesha Marzell (1992-93) as Bishop O’Dowd track athletes with multiple individual state titles, in addition to the 4x400 relay championship she anchored last season.

“When we come down (to state), it’s SoCal versus NorCal, so we’re all on the same team. Seeing them in the 400 with me, it’s great because we’re all good friends, we’re competitors and we push each other. I’m glad they were able to make it this far and place on the medal stand,” Robinson-Jones said. “I knew I was going to have to run like hell to pull it out and that’s exactly what I did. We’re all close, so running against them is tearing our friendship apart, but running against them makes me so happy. We’ve got some pretty good girls up here that are graduating.”

But only one with the career resume of Robinson-Jones, who won North Coast Section Meet of Champions titles in three events May 26 at Cal’s Edwards Stadium, setting records in the 200 (23.56) and 400 (52.69). She also teamed with junior Jordan Jones and freshmen Kandace Blackshire and Jazlynn Gibbs to help Bishop O’Dowd place fifth in the state in the 4x100 relay in 46.86, the third consecutive season the Dragons produced a sub-47 effort.

“One of the things that really makes Tierra stand out is that she follows directions. She did everything I told her to do through the trials, she’s a team player by running the relay and she comes back in the finals and runs a monster leg on the relay, so our freshmen are in the game and we’re in the game on the anchor,” said Cooks, whose team became the first North Coast Section girls program to place in the top five overall in the state in consecutive years since 2007-08.

“That’s what she expects and demands from herself, so they rose to that challenge. They rose to her level and they’re going to be better for it going forward.”

Robinson-Jones is looking forward to competing Friday against a field that includes three additional athletes ranked in the top 10 in the country, including defending-champion Bailey Lear of Frisco, Texas, along with Jan’Taijah Ford of Florida’s Northeast High in Oakland Park and Meghan Hunter of Provo, Utah.

“It makes me really happy to know that my training is working. I’ve battled so many injuries over the years, but never told anybody, because I don’t like to make excuses,” Robinson-Jones said. “Medals will always be medals, but it’s just proving that your training is working and that it’s going to continue to work.”

Before she gets to work on the next chapter of her running career in College Station, Texas, Robinson-Jones will attempt to join Waller (2016) as the only California female athletes to win the 400 in the meet’s eight-year history in Washington.

“Everybody who has helped throughout the years, from family and coaches to my close friend who is an assistant coach to people coming to O’Dowd and pushing me all the way, from cross country to training with the boys every day to training with the girls to help them with the relay and improving their sprints, there are a whole lot of ‘thank yous’ to go out everywhere, because they are the main ones,” Robinson-Jones said. “This is where I am now and this is what I’m doing, but this is what I need to do to get better and this is what I need to do to win at the next level. It’s a pattern and it’s a journey. It’s a long, continuous journey and it will continue to be one until I decide to stop running.”