Athlete of the Week: Rhema Taylor

This week’s athlete of the week is a junior in business management Rhema Taylor.  

Taylor has been on the women’s track and field team since her freshman year but has been running track since middle school.  

Taylor enjoys meeting new people and achieving goals through track.   

“… I like the team aspect, making friends and getting close to people in that way,” Taylor said. “I like working hard for something and seeing the goal manifest and just like trying for something and seeing it happen. That’s like the best part of it.”  

According to Taylor, prioritizing is the key to balancing school and sports.  

“I mean I’ve been doing it (balancing school and sports) for so long that I’ve developed a routine that it doesn’t seem difficult for me,” Taylor said. “But I would say definitely prioritize your schoolwork in between practices. If you can get homework done before… practice, I would do that because after practice your kind of tired. That’s really the key, don’t procrastinate and get a schedule and stick to it.”  

Her biggest accomplishment is being made team captain.   

“My biggest accomplishment I feel like would be being the team captain of Pittsburg State track,” Taylor said. “Because it put me in a position to make me want to work hard not just for myself but also my teammates and it shows me that people look up to me and see me as a leader in that way. So, that’s definitely like one of the biggest accomplishments thus far.” 

If the opportunity presents itself, Taylor will compete professionally.  

“If that happens, yes,” Taylor said. “I’m definitely going to pursue that. But my dream is to be a multi-million-dollar entrepreneur and I want to own multiple businesses and just be like a business mogul. That’s my dream but if track continues to keep going well, we’ll find a way to merge the two.”  

Like many students and athletes, Taylor’s biggest supporters are her family.   

“My biggest supporters (are) obviously my family,” Taylor said. “My sister, my mom they all want to see me do so well. They have supported me on and off the track. So, definitely my family.”  

Due to a hamstring injury, Taylor has not competed in the track and field competitions for a couple weeks. Despite that, Taylor raced to a first-place finish in the 600-yard dash at the 2020 MIAA Indoor Track and Field Championships from Friday, Feb. 28 to Sunday, March 1 in the Plaster Center.  

“… Well, actually for the last few weeks I was injured, and we didn’t even know if I was going to be able to compete at conference,” Taylor said. “So, I had just been struggling with (an) injury. Normally, I run the 400-meter. So, that’s my main event. But considering injury and everything I’ve been going through, I went to my coach and was like, ‘Hey, what do you think about me running the 600 at conference instead of the… (400)?’ Because my injury prevented me from being able to sprint and the 400 meters is a sprint. So, the 600 is a little bit slower… So, I suggested that to him and he was like, ‘(That’s) a pretty good idea, we’ll see how it works out and see if you can get in it.’ So, I was actually entered in the event with no time. So, like there’s rankings before you come into the track meet that tells you how you would do before we run. So, I came into it with no time, so I was like, ‘no threat on paper’ and it was just kind of funny to go from like literally the bottom to the very top. So, that was definitely a good moment for me.”