Q&A: Kenisha Phillips & Coach Valerie Brown - A Bond Like No Other

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – We sat down to talk with graduate sprinter Kenisha Phillips and assistant coach for Sprints, Hurdles and Relays Valerie Brown about the recruitment process, individual goals, and the excitement ahead of National Championship’s next week.

Phillips punched her ticket to her first NCAA competition after winning silver at the Big Ten Indoor Championships with a time of 51.72.

A native of Buxton, Guyana, Phillips had the odds stacked against her in some ways, but Coach Brown promised to help her through every step of the way. She reflects on her track career and shares her excitement ahead of the meet, her individual goals and the love she has for the sport.

Phillips saw great success under former Austin Peay head coach Brown, and she knew she wasn’t done yet. The trust she has in coach Brown and the belief she has in herself led her to Indiana. Not only do they share their love for track, but they also have a special bond in life and through their faith.

After great success at Austin Peay, she has shown the world that she is a competitor. Phillips holds three school records after this indoor season including the 300 and 400 Meter and one relay record in the 4x400. She is only getting started.

GENEVA,OH - February 23rd, 2024 - Kenisha Phillips during the BIG TEN Championship Meet at SPIRE Institute in Geneva,Ohio. Photo By Nate Manley

Kenisha Phillips | Sprinter | Georgetown, Guyana

On winning silver at your first Big Ten Indoor Championships…

“I was so happy. I was happy with my time. I wasn’t surprised because I split that time in the 4x400 relay before. Going on the podium and this being my first Big Ten meet, and I was happy to be up there.”

On qualifying for your first NCAA’s…

“It’s a blessing honestly. My training has been going so well. It’s not a surprise to be honest. God did it. I have been praying and working hard for this, so it’s a blessing.”

On what you’re looking forward to the most…

“I am looking forward to running faster times and the experience of running with faster athletes to get a better time.”

On your goals for the Indoor season…

“My goal for the indoor season was to run faster at every single meet, to progress at every meet. And to also qualify for nationals since I have never done that before in my college career. I felt like I have been so much faster since I came to IU and my progression has been going really well.”

On how you got started running…

“You start off in preschool when you just run among your peers at recess, but I never really took part in it a lot, but my twin brother did. I used to be just looking, sitting, watching. Everyone would have thought that he would have been the athlete because I was just chilling. I moved to primary school and then I started running there when I was seven years old. One day, I was watching the television, that [happened to be the] 2008 Olympic year. I was looking at the TV, and I saw Usain Bolt on the channel. He won his race, and the crowd was so wild. I was like ‘Wow. This is cool. I want to do this.’”

“Honestly, I have just been running all my life. My older brothers would be chasing me around with lizards because they know I am afraid of them. I am terrified of them. They chased me around. I would be sprinting around the neighborhood, and they couldn’t catch me I was too fast.”

On if you can beat your brothers in a race now…

“I can beat all of my brothers now in a race, they still can’t keep up.”

Lizards or not.

On your inspirations and discovering your love for running…

“I look up to the great runners like Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Elaine Thompson-Herah. I always aspire to be like them. They are great people and a great inspiration to young athletes, so I always looked to them growing up. Also, at home I was in a club called the Running Brave [Athletics] Club. All the older athletes would go on scholarship in the U.S. while I was still young, and I was like I want to go to America too. Like what do I need to do to go to America to run? I was always so curious about that. I would show up to practice every day and give my best and work. I was like, ‘I am going to America.’ And here I am.”

On what you’re looking forward to most in the outdoor season…

“I am looking forward to going to nationals and continuing that progression, running fast and hopefully making the podium. For my outdoor season, It’s the Olympic year, so I am looking forward to running the Olympic standard which is 50.9 and to go to the Olympics and represent my country, and by God’s grace, hopefully sign a pro contract.”

On what makes you run so fast…

“You want to know the secret? Chicken feet soup.”

Ask coach Brown about this one.

“I’m just playing. Everyone thinks that it is, but it’s not. It’s really God. He has blessed me with this talent and this gift. My hard work and dedication and my love for the sport. I have been in track and field like my whole life. I have never played any other sport other than track, so I would say my love for the sport and God.”

On your bond with coach Valerie Brown…

“I love how trustworthy she is. She knows what she is doing. She is not only a coach but a mentor. You can talk to her about anything whether it’s life, school, or anything. She is always there to listen, and she understands. She cares about you as a person more than just the sport.”

On your recruitment process…

“My mentor had a friend that had an athlete that went to Austin Peay. Her friend told my mentor about the athlete, and she reached out to coach Brown at Austin Peay. She told her about me, and we started talking from there.”

Valerie Brown | Assistant Coach – Sprints, Hurdles & Relays

On the recruitment process to Austin Peay what you have seen from her…

“She was a good kid to talk too. Her accent was very thick, so it was very hard to understand her. We make jokes all the time that she probably asked me questions all the time, and I just said yes to everything. We both kind of laughed it off as a joke. She had a story, and a lot of people didn’t think academically she could make it.

When I went through the recruiting process, I told her I would be with her every step of the way and that it would be a process. But if she remained committed in the classroom and on the track, we will make it work. When she first got to Austin Peay, I don’t think she struggled as much as people thought she would. There were times that I had to stay on her pretty hard. She says to this day that I am on her sometimes like a mom would. Rightfully so, I probably am, even when we first got here [Indiana]. But I would say the recruiting process was fairly easy, she was easy to talk too, but I think what I was intrigued by was that the lady I knew who put me in contact with Kenisha really believed in her. She talked very highly of her. After I talked to her, just her commitment like ‘yes coach, I am going apply myself in the classroom and obviously on the track,’ it was easy to get her at Austin Peay.

I never was able to see her run in-person, but she would send me videos. I could tell through certain practices that Kenisha had a lot of talent and a lot of ability, but one of the interesting things she said to me when she first got to Austin Peay was, ‘In my country, we don’t run over 300 Meters, and I am not a 400 Meter runner.’ I said okay. At Austin Peay, we are going to train up to the 400 Meters as a sprinter, so you will run the 60 all the way up to the 400 and we will put you in the best position to have success. The very first time I had her do a 300, it was horrible. It looked like she straight jogged it because she didn’t want to do it. I kind of tricked her one day and told her you have to run the 400 this weekend. If you go out and jog it, I will just put you in it the next weekend. But if you go out and run it right, then you will have one and done. So sure enough, she opened up at 54 mid in her first time running the 400 Meters. I went to Kenisha and said, I know what I said before, but here where we are in this conference, and I know what your abilities are. So, we had a long talk. It took her a while to really be convinced that the 400 was an event that she could do. I would also say that there is a lot of trust that she has in me. Although she didn’t want to do it, she trusts the process. So, then we converted her from a 60-100-200 sprinter up to the 400. We stuck with the 200 and the 400 and used the short sprints as training.”

Kenisha Phillips | Assistant Coach Valerie Brown

Image provided by Kenisha Phillips

On what impresses you the most about Kenisha…

“She is a competitor. The very first time she competed for Austin Peay, she competed. I wouldn’t say that I was surprised because she would do some unique things in practice, but she is a competitor. When you talk about a competitor and someone who just competes there is a difference. She competes a little different than everyone else. She is running with a purpose. She has always told me that she wants to make the Olympics. I always remind her that everything we are doing is taking strides and steps towards that goal. In the beginning, really what impressed me was her competitive edge. We both share a relationship where we talk about God. I am very big on my faith and that is a conversation that we can dive deeper into. We share gospel songs and scriptures. I think all those things really help our relationship.”

On her work ethic…

“I give glory to God for putting me in a position to guide her, to mold her. The position that Coach Beathea blessed me with coming to Indiana, that was a process. Her buying in and saying coach Brown I’m going to trust you, and I’m going to follow you to Indiana. When the opportunity presented itself to me to leave Austin Peay, she could have gone anywhere in the country, but she chose to come with me to Indiana. I am grateful that coach Beathea welcomed not only me but an athlete that I was coaching. To see where she is now is a blessing. She has earned it. She has worked hard. A lot of people don’t know the tough conversations I have had with her. I can be a mom. I can be a coach. I can be a friend. I’m a lot of things, but I think she responds very well to those things and that’s the reason why people see what they see. When we first got here to Indiana, I would argue that she struggled quite a bit this first semester. I was the only person she knew. You go from taking her from a smaller mid-major institution to a school where there is 40,000 people, she struggled. We had several conversations from the time she got here in August to December about remembering why we are here and what this is setting you up for. I think had it not been revolved around remembering why we here and what the goal is, in some ways she would have got lost. But again, she trusts the process. She stayed true to what her goals were, and what we are trying to accomplish and here we are.

I think what people right now in the Big Ten, and for people who have never seen her compete, if you look back at the history of Kenisha and what she has done at Austin Peay, this is who she is. I inducted a young lady into the hall of fame in 2018, and I sent that lady to outdoor nationals as a sophomore, and she finished top-20. Kenisha is the first person to come behind her and break all her records at Austin Peay. I would imagine at some point they will be calling trying to get her inducted too. I think what people are seeing is this is who she is, a competitor. She is a good person, a good kid with a good character. I think you see a lot of talented athletes, but not all of them have good character. You see she got the Big Ten Sportsmanship award, that had to be voted amongst somebody right? I think that people can see who she is a person outside of who she is as an athlete. That’s very valuable in our sport. And she is a woman of God. She puts her faith in God. I think that’s important as well.”