After earning degree from Arizona in May, Robinson reunited with former Tennessee Tech coach Frazier to compete as a graduate student in home state at HBCU, looking to make more history in 400 meters in Albuquerque

By Erik Boal, DyeStat Editor

During a collegiate career that has produced numerous milestones, not only athletically but academically, Na’Asha Robinson isn’t the first Alabama A&M female athlete to compete in the 400 meters at an NCAA Division 1 championship meet.

That honor belongs to three-time Olympian and 1993 World Championship gold medalist Jearl Miles-Clark, who placed fourth for the Bulldogs in the 400 outdoor final in 1988, along with eighth in the long jump.

But Robinson’s journey to become the first Alabama A&M qualifier, regardless of gender, to compete at the NCAA Division 1 indoor meet as a graduate student is one of the most inspiring of all the athletes scheduled to participate Friday and Saturday in Albuquerque, N.M.

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“It’s an amazing feeling,” Robinson said. “I just want to thank God and my coach, all my friends and family who supported me. It’s been a long journey, but we did it together and I made it.”

Robinson, 23, is already the first member of her family to graduate from college, which she did last spring from the University of Arizona. That achievement followed her making history on the track in 2017 by becoming the first Tennessee Tech athlete to advance to the NCAA Division 1 Outdoor Championships.

But after not qualifying for the 400-meter final following a fourth-place finish in her semifinal heat – and 15th overall out of 24 competitors – three years ago in Eugene, Ore., then not securing a return trip in 2018 after missing out on advancing again by 0.2 seconds in her regional quarterfinal race, Robinson decided to depart Tennessee Tech in order to attend Arizona last year.

Injuries resulted in Robinson only competing in three indoor meets for the Wildcats and cost her all of the outdoor season. Although she earned her degree in literacy, learning and leadership from Arizona in May, she decided to leave Tucson and return home to Huntsville, Ala., where she attended high school at S.R. Butler.

Not only did she enroll in graduate school at Alabama A&M – one of 107 Historically Black Colleges and Universities according to the U.S. Department of Education – but Robinson reunited with former Tennessee Tech coach Eugene Frazier, now an assistant coach for the Bulldogs.

“It’s definitely been a journey and it’s crazy to have to go from school to school to school, but to be here now at my first HBCU as a graduate student is a big thing, and just to be able to inspire those under me because I am a graduate student means a lot,” Robinson said. “It’s been great and I know the people back at A&M are going crazy because this is really big for not only our school, but the entire athletic program.”

Robinson gave friends, family, teammates and coaches plenty to be excited about Feb. 15 when she placed second in the 400-meter final at the Toyota USATF Indoor Championships behind adidas professional and last year’s Division 1 outdoor winner Wadeline Jonathas, clocking a personal-best 51.98 seconds on the same Albuquerque Convention Center track where she will compete again Friday.

“I knew coming back (to Albuquerque) and actually being healthy and being able to run on it, I knew it was going to go well because it’s a fast track,” Robinson said. “I’m shocked, but at the same time I was kind of prepared for it because coming back and training with Eugene Frazier and preparing for the Olympic Trials was going to be hard, but we’re just picking up the pieces and putting it together and we’re just going to keep building on it.”

Robinson became one of 44 collegiate female athletes in history, at any level and on any indoor track, to run under 52 seconds. She was also the first female sprinter from an HBCU to eclipse the barrier since former Hampton standout Francena McCorory achieved the feat in 2010.

Entering Friday’s semifinals, where the top eight overall times from the four heats advance to a two-section final Saturday, Robinson ranks No. 4 in the U.S. and ninth in the world. One of the two collegiate athletes to run faster this season than Robinson, Texas sophomore Kennedy Simon (51.81), will be in a lane immediately to her outside.

“It’s going to benefit me huge because now I know what to do and what not to do, and I’ve already got a feel for the track,” Robinson said. “I’ve just got to own my race plan and my execution and give it my best and see where it lands. The goal is to win it and that’s what we’re going to come to do.”

North Carolina A&T graduate Kayla White, a first-year Nike professional, became only the sixth female athlete representing an HBCU to win a Division 1 indoor title in any event when she captured the 200-meter championship last year in Birmingham, Ala.

The historical significance of Robinson pursuing a championship makes it even more meaningful for Alabama A&M coach LaShaunda Jones.

“I cannot say enough about this young lady,” Jones said. “But to put it simply, she is extremely dedicated and a hard worker who set out to achieve all of her goals that she has put in place and she is not going to let anything get in her way.”

Robinson followed her memorable effort at U.S. Indoors by leading the Bulldogs to a third-place finish the following week at the Southwestern Athletic Conference Championships at the CrossPlex in Birmingham.

Robinson was selected women’s most outstanding track performer by the conference after winning the 200 and 400, anchoring the 4x400 relay to victory and placing second in the 60-meter dash.

“Each meet I’ve just been trying to get better and each meet I’ve just been getting more confident,” Robinson said. “I’m still kind of a little bit in disbelief, but I knew that coming back to my coach that everything was going to be exactly what he always said it was from my first three years, because we were always training past school and past college, it’s always been about something bigger like USAs.”

Despite being in the fastest 400 section a month ago in Albuquerque against a pair of U.S. national champions in Quanera Hayes and Jonathas, Robinson remained poised and strong throughout the race. Her second 200-meter split of 27.65 seconds was the same as Jonathas, who clocked 51.54 in the final after running a world-leading 51.32 in the Feb. 14 semifinals.

“Coach Frazier, he knows how to teach me and fix me. He knows how to emotionally and mentally keep me together,” Robinson said. “As far as his coaching ability, his training style and his personality, he knows what works for me.”

And just like they’re partnership in 2017 at Tennessee Tech, when she ran a program-record 52.00 in the 400 to qualify for the Division 1 outdoor championship meet, Robinson hopes that she and Frazier can celebrate more history together this weekend in Albuquerque.

“Honestly, there is definitely no doubt in him. I probably have more doubt in myself than he does,” Robinson said. “He’s always believed in me more than I’ve ever believed in myself and he’s always told me since I was a freshman that I had the ability to be next level and to be a professional athlete and I never really understood him. It took for me coming into my fifth year as a graduate athlete to really understand my ability and just having that experience has made a big difference. This has been a huge step.”