Athlete of the Week: Broncos’ Akins has memorable junior season

Nia Akins is already setting lofty goals for her senior season. If next year turns out to be anything like this one, the Rancho Bernardo High star runner will crush her expectations.

Akins turned in an amazing junior campaign, capturing the San Diego Section Division II cross country championship in the fall and repeating as the girls 800-meter section champion in the spring.

She polished off her remarkable track season with a sixth-place finish on Saturday in the 800 at the CIF State Track and Field Championships in Clovis. Her time of 2-minutes, 8.91-seconds broke her own school record set a week earlier.

“This year was incredible,” Akins said. “I am extremely fortunate and I think this season just sets the groundwork for next year. I feel I can improve by a lot and perform better. I went beyond what I wanted to do this year. I expected to run 2:10 in the 800 by the end of the season not a 2:08.”

That 2:08.91 was done in one of the most bizarre races Akins has ever been involved in. There were two restarts in the 800 state final. The first for a false start. The second after two-time defending champion Mikaela Smith of Clovis North went tumbling to the ground moments after the gun, but was disqualified for impeding the progress of another runner.

“I don’t think I have ever been apart of one restart so it was crazy to have two at state,” Akins said. “Everyone was just trying to cut in. I thought I was going to fall too on the second start. I was really fortunate that another restart happened, but it was unfortunate everyone went down and cut in. I have never been in a race where everyone was trying to cut in like that before.”

Akins settled in to the middle of the pack on the third start and was in a comfortable position going into the final 200 of the first lap. But Akins said she might have picked up the pace too early on the second lap.

“Coming around for that second lap I decided to pick it up a little bit and I think I did it too early,” she said. “But I am happy with my race and my performance and now I know what to do next year.”

Akins moved into second place in the final 200 for a brief moment, but other runners began to make their moves and go by her. Still, she crossed the taper in a school-record time.

“I think I have run a smarter race before,” she said. “I was surprised to see that it was my best time. I think it was because it was just such a fast race. Hopefully next year I will run a lot smarter and my time will drop.”

Akins said she hopes to run 2:07 next season. The winning time in the 800 at state was 2:07.08.

“I always make crazy goals then do my best to go after them,” she said.

No goal seems too crazy for Akins to achieve.