As a senior, A’Tolani Akinkuotu has prepared the past four years to be able to compete in the NCAA Championships. This past weekend at the ACC Indoor Track championships Akinkuotu ran a record breaking 6.60 seconds in the 60m dash, automatically qualifying him for a spot in the NCAA Championships. The time broke Akinkuotu’s previous record at N.C. State. With his new time, Akinkuotu was able to accomplish the goal he has been working towards the past four years.
“Knowing that I had to bring my best effort to make myself a contender helped put me in a mental position to run that kind of race,” Akinkuotu said. “I knew there were people there who had the ability to perform at a high level, so I had to bring my best effort.”
When Akinkuotu first broke the school record in 2007, a record that had been in place since 1999, it was a bittersweet moment since he still did not run a fast enough time to qualify for nationals.
“When I broke [the school record], it was kind of a bittersweet moment,” Akinkuotu said. “It was one of those things where I was disappointed because I didn’t make it to nationals, but I was excited because I broke the school record.”
Motivation and self-drive have helped Akinkuotu continually break records. As a freshman, Akinkuotu first ran the 60m with a time of 6.83 seconds, just shy of the school record of 6.82 seconds. Later that year, he broke the record running the 60m in 6.72 seconds. The senior continued to break his record each year, running the 60m in 6.70 seconds his sophomore year, 6.66 seconds his junior year, and finally running the 60m in 6.60 seconds during his senior year.
“Track is one of those sports where you can get coached and the coach can tell you how to run, but it is really difficult to see those things until you do them,” Akinkuotu said. “The thing about track is you can’t really see what the coach is telling you until after you accomplish it. Coach Reese has been telling me a lot of the things I need to work on, closing out my race, coming out strong, and I thought I had been working on it, but when it all clicked, it just fell into place.”
Akinkuotu is a leading by example for his teammates, providing both support and motivation throughout the season.
“He is a team motivator,” said senior Reggie Reese. “He motivates us to do well, mostly telling us to keep our head focused.”
Freshman in aerospace engineering Benjamin Majors looks at Akinkuotu as a mentor both on and off the track. He said he see Akinkuotu as a captain of the team and also someone who has brother-like qualities.
“He has done a lot in his career,” said Majors. “He had the same goals and mindset as me when he was a freshman. He is an aerospace engineer, so that says a lot right there and being able to do track as well. So his level of knowledge helps not just me out, but the team as well.”
As a school record-holder and now NCAA competitor, Akinkuotu is an athlete who has the talent and motivation to perform at nationals. However, his coach Terry Reese believes at first glance Akinkuotu does not seem like he would be very fast.
“You have to take in the capabilities that each athlete is equipped with,” said Reese. “I have to actually train him differently than the rest of the team. His capacity to do some of the other type workouts do no work for him, so I have to modify workouts to cater to his ability to get down the track.”
As Akinkuotu prepares for NCAA championships March 12 and 13, he has relaxed his training. Instead, he is focusing on staying healthy and strengthening weak spots in his race. Finding the right balance between relaxation and focus will be key as he moves closer to the race.
“The biggest thing is to develop a sense of confidence and calm,” said Akinkuotu. “You don’t want to get to such a big stage and let your nerves get the best of you. You want to get to a mental state where you are calm, but you don’t want to be too relaxed. You want to have enough adrenaline pumping in you to be able to execute the race and be able to put enough energy into it, but you also don’t want to over analyze the meet and get too excited because then you end up rushing your race and making little mistakes.”
