Gerald Phiri enjoys listening to the public address announcer just before he gets into the blocks.
For the Texas A&M sprinter it's a final motivating factor against the rest of the field, many of whom are ranked higher than him.
"One thing I liked this year, especially racing against Trey Harts [of Baylor] and Chris [Dykes of A&M] is when we are standing at the start line of the 200 [meters] and they are introducing them," Phiri said. "They will be like, 'Trey Hawks, the NCAA champion, the fastest time in the country,' and then they'll move on to Chris, second fastest, and I'm like 20-something in the country."
Then, when the gun goes off, Phiri does what he does best -- he competes.
"The thing about Gerald is there are guys that have run faster times right now, but Gerald beats people," A&M coach Pat Henry said. "Gerald is one of those kind of guys that on that day he's gong to do what it takes to try and win that race."
Phiri has had a couple of good days of late, beating Harts and Dykes on his way to sweeping the sprints and being a member of the winning 4x100 team at the Big 12 meet and the Midwest Regional meet.
The rare triples -- he's the only male to win those three Big 12 races in one season -- are a big reason Henry and the Aggies will be in the mix for the national title at this week's NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Fayetteville, Ark.
It also puts Phiri among those that will vie for individual championships, even though going in he is ranked sixth in the 100 and seventh in the 200.
"You can't go looking at these numbers because these numbers do not dictate who is going to win the championship. I'm not saying someone ranked 50th is going to go on and win the national championship, but at this level where first and 10th are so close you can not say [which] person is going to win the championship," Phiri said. "It doesn't work like that, especially for someone in a sport where you need to be highly motivated by yourself."
Self-confidence is one of the main reasons Phiri, a sophomore from Sheffield, England via Zambia, is not surprised with winning six races that lead up to the national championships.
"Surprised, no. I came into this season planning to be the best, because last year Richard Thompson [of LSU], he won NCAAs and was a senior and he left," Phiri said. "Walter Dix [of FSU], Travis Padgett [of Clemson] is gone so there was a need for someone to now take over the NCAA, and so coming into this season I had told myself that was going to me.
"If I'm going to be the best in the country, I should not be surprised if I win the Big 12 championship and regional championship. I mean, in themselves they are great competitions and beating these guys [Dykes and Harts] even though it wasn't a surprise, it was a great honor to be able to go out there with the best guys in the country and perform against them and beat them."
Phiri has bettered his time in the 100 and 200 over the past two meets, running a personal-best 10.13 seconds in the 100 and a season-best 20.53 in the 200. His personal record in the 200 is 20.29.
Another motivation Phiri has is he had to play spectator at last year's NCAA championships because of an injury, which had been a obstacle for the sprinter up until this season.
"His fall training, our training through this spring and our competition and how we did things, the goal was lets get Gerald through a competitive season healthy," Henry said. "So that is an accomplishment."
Phiri gives Henry credit for getting him to the NCAAs feeling as good as he has in a long time.
"He's been coaching for 30-plus years and so I'm sure after seeing me last year he knew what he had to change," Phiri said. "Last year was a bit more difficult for him because I started in January, and its hard for me to come in in January and for him to know how my body functions immediately."
Phiri enjoys the 200 most but believes he's better at the 100, which he hopes in the long run will be beneficial because "the 100 generates more money."
Knowing that Henry could help him advance his career is one of the main reasons Phiri chose A&M over other schools.
"I'm fortunate that he doesn't have to use me as his trial and error," Phiri said. "He's coached athletes of a higher caliber than me so I knew he was going to do whatever it took for me to be healthy. If you are going to be successful you are going to have to trust the coach 100 percent."
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NOTES -- Phiri also won the 100, 200 and 4x100 at the Big 12 Conference meet his freshman season. ... He finished sixth in the indoor championships at A&M almost three months ago. ... Phiri has dual citizenship -- England and Zambia -- and is unsure at the moment who he hopes to run for in Olympic competition.
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