VIDEO: Brain Power

ROGERS -- Georgia Brain thought her day was finished at the Arkansas High School Indoor Track and Field Championships and she was ready to hopefully watch her Rogers High teammates wrap up the Class 6A state girls' team title earlier this year.

But Lady Mounties coach Becky Efurd needed something more from the senior. She needed Brain to run the mile relay, the final event of the meet, to help make sure Rogers could capture that team title.

"I just told her, 'You're gonna have to do it,'" Efurd said. "And she did it. That was her sixth event of the day. Whatever we needed, she did it."

Brain earned high-point honors, winning the long jump, triple jump and 60-meter hurdles. She also ran her first competitive quarter-mile to help the Lady Mounties finish fourth in the mile relay, which was good enough for them to claim that state championship.

But it wasn't without a little drama as Brain got tangled up with another runner nearly halfway through her leg and nearly fell.

"That was scary," Brain said. "I was thinking, 'Oh, no this is it. I'm going down.' But I recovered, so it was OK."

She's blossomed this season after coming out for track as a sophomore when an injury forced her to quit competitive gymnastics.

Efurd said Brain has done nothing but constantly improve since she started competing for the Lady Mounties.

"We keep a printout of all their finishes, and she's done nothing but trend up," Efurd said. "She's got an amazing work ethic. When we open the weight room in the summer, she's here. She's here on holidays, just putting in all the extra time."

But Brain said the time spent at track practice doesn't come close to what she did for gymnastics.

"It was a big change," Brain said. "With gymnastics, we practiced 4½ hours a day. I was like, 'Do I need to practice four hours for track?' But the sprint workouts are more like an hour or hour and a half."

Brain also likes how results in track and field are cut and dry, which is different from gymnastics in which results are judged and somewhat subjective.

"I like in track you know for sure who the best is," Brain said. "It's whoever crosses the line first. They measure your jumps and whoever has the best jump wins. I'm just drawn to the competitive nature of track.

"I like the feeling of getting on the line and all I have to do is run faster than these girls next to me."

But her strong mental focus, which was aided by gymnastics, came into play at the indoor state meet.

"I had it in my head after the 200 that I was done," Brain said. "I'd had such a good day. I was ready to sit down and watch my team finish it for me kind of."

But then she got the call that her team needed her one more time.

"I had to get back in my mindset; it was really nerve-racking," Brain said. "That's my favorite race to watch."

She's picked up right back where she left off to begin the outdoor season with a personal best long jump of 17 feet, 10.5 inches in the first meet of the season. Her previous best was 17-1 at the indoor state meet.

That even surprised Efurd as she had focused most of her work on the triple jump.

"I had no idea she'd jump like that this past week," Efurd said. "That just shows you how much she has been progressing."

Brain has thoughts of running track and field in college, and Efurd, who had three children compete at the Division I level, said college coaches have inquired. And her versatility could be her ticket, Efurd said.

"I think she could be a good little heptathlete," Efurd said. "Her jumps have surpassed her hurdles. College coaches want to see you do more than one thing, maybe even more than two things."

That won't be a problem for Brain.

Sports on 03/24/2019