By Sarah Ridenour
Baltimore Watchdog Staff Writer
Shania Collins takes her place in lane five for the USATF Indoor Championship 60-meter sprint. The gun fires and she explodes off the line. Collins moves swiftly from fourth place, to third, to second, just behind Kate Hall who had been in first from the start.
“Kate Hall has the edge,” the announcer says. “Kate Hall has she got away?”
To the announcer’s surprise, Collins pulls ahead of Hall just before crossing the line. She almost makes it look easy, as if a conveyor belt is pushing her forward.
“No, it’s Collins!” the announcer shouts as Collins leads forward and sprints through the ribbon at the end of the track, winning the race with a personal best time of 7.16 seconds.
Collins, 22 of Huntingtown, Maryland, is a professional track runner. She recently landed a sponsorship from Adidas and hopes to run for Team USA in the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.
In order to make the Olympics, Collins must place in the top two at the qualifying meet. If she places third, fourth or fifth in the short sprints, she will instead be placed into a relay pool. From this pool, the USA committee will choose two additional athletes to compete in either the 4×100 relay and/or the 4×400 relay.
“It’s a pretty simple process in the way it’s set up, but not simple in the fact that the competition is the best of the best,” Collins said. “The U.S. actually has the hardest qualifying standards out of all the competing countries.”
In August 2018, Collins opted out of her last year of college eligibility at the University of Tennessee. With the help of her agency, Stellar Athletics, she signed a contract with Adidas and went pro.
“You could tell she was determined and her 2018 season showed it,” said Ramon Clay, Collins’ agent. “Adidas was very interested in her from her 2018 performances, which is why we were able to negotiate a sponsorship deal for her.”
Collins said a lot of factors played a part the decision, but one of the biggest was the upcoming Track and Field World Championships in fall of 2019.
“The World Championships are like a preview that a lot of athletes will base how they perform there to make the necessary training and competing adjustments to be Olympic hopefuls,” Collins said. “As a college athlete, it would be very physically taxing to go through an entire NCAA competition schedule and then afterwards attempt to qualify and compete for World Championships.”
As a professional, Collins works with her coach and agents to figure out a schedule that works best for her.
“Since the World Championships and 2020 Olympics are my two closest goals, I wanted that freedom and opportunity to just focus on those,” Collins said.
So far, Collins said she has enjoyed her time being a professional athlete, including being able to travel, meeting other professionals and no longer having to juggle track and school.
“I also just love when strangers ask me if I’m in college or what do I do for living, it’s fun for me to say ‘I’m professional athlete’ and see the different reactions,” Collins said.
While there are a lot of perks, she said it’s not all glitz and glam.
“With more freedom definitely comes more responsibility and harder work,” Collins said.
A typical training week includes 8 a.m. lifts three days of the week, regular practices four days a week and one day off for massages and physical therapy. Some practices focus more on conditioning, and others on technique. These practices working on block starts, which she said is an area that needs improvement for her to reach her Olympic goal.
But teammate Nathan Strother said her willingness to work is one of the qualities that makes her special.
“She is always going to give her 140 percent best effort, whether she is feeling good or not,” Strother said. “She is going to succeed no matter what.”
Collins’ coach Tim Hall, who she first started working with at the University of Tennessee, agreed.
“Shania has an unrelenting spirit to succeed,” Hall said. “During my interview with her on her visit to Tennessee, I asked what do you desire to accomplish with track? Without hesitation she answered ‘to be the very best.’”
To outsiders, her Olympic dreams might seem nothing more than that, a dream. But those who know her are confident she will make those dreams a reality.
“I believe her potential is limitless,” Strother said. “With trusting her training, coaching and the passion within herself, the 2020 Olympics will be a part of her meteoric rise in the sport. Just staying Shania Collins is what she needs and how she will make it to the Olympics.”
Just like she pushed her competitors to win at the USATF Indoor Championships, Collins plans to keep pushing to reach that ribbon at the end of the track, the 2020 Olympics.
“Making it to the Olympics would mean the world to me,” Collins said. “It’s been a dream since I’ve started my track career. To share that huge achievement with my family and friends would be one of my happiest memories ever.”