What do 11.79 seconds, 23.99 seconds, 45.55 seconds and 3 minutes, 42 seconds mean in relation to one another?
To answer that, GeorgiaStateSports.com has gone to someone familiar with metrics, analysis, problem solving and dissecting results to measure their relativity factor.
We got a second opinion from a car mechanic who can tune up our spark plugs, change our oil and filter, check our tire pressure and change and rotate them as necessary.
We also talked with someone with a wall full of medals and ribbons from being faster than others.
Actually, it's all the same person.
Georgia State track and field red-shirt junior Wande Brewer is gearing up with her teammates for the Sun Belt Championships Friday-Sunday, May 9-11 and all those times will become important if she is to bring home more championship medals for her collection.
Brewer is a business marketing major in the J. Mack Robinson College of Business. She's studied economics, accounting and taken classes in marketing metrics to analyze the marketplace. She's hoping to create a blueprint to run her own business one day.
In high school, she excelled in the classroom. Brewer was in the National Honor Society, the Beta Club and the Future Business Leaders of America.
With her father's knowledge of cars and his business, Wande spent weekends and summers learning a lot of little things about what makes a car run properly. She understands how to check and change the sparkplugs, change the oil and filter, check the transmission fluid and radiator fluid. She'll easily check the tire air compression, then change or rotate the tires to improve the ride.
Brewer was also a violinist for almost 10 years, but unfortunately the violin is stored under the bed due to all the other busy activities of her life. She picked that musical instrument as an 8-year old and took private lessons to learn to play well, maintaining her talent through high school in the orchestra.
“Wande is a silent leader who may seem soft-spoken off the track, but is a fierce competitor on the track,” coach Chris England said. “She is passionate about the business of track. I would say she takes things in before making a decision or offering an opinion, but has well-calculated thoughts.”
Coach England appreciates the student side of Brewer, too. “Her mother is a school teacher so education was important and Wande was pointed in the right direction,” England said. “She is capable and prepared for success with her education.”
It is time to get back to those numbers in the first paragraph and put them into meaning. Brewer runs the 100 meters, the 200 meters and on both the 4x100 and 4x400 meter relay teams for Georgia State.
Last year in Georgia State's inaugural Sun Belt track and field championship, Brewer brought home three medals for her extensive medal collection. She was part of the conference championship 4x100 relay team, part of the runner-up 4x400 relay team and finished third in the 100-meter sprint. All those made her a three-time All-Sun Belt performer in her first league meet. Now, the challenges are greater with some new Sun Belt schools from track-rich Texas.
The times themselves don't mean too much as it is the actual races. But, the statistical analysis can provide some perspective. For example, GSU's 4x400 relay team has produced the league's fastest time of the two-month regular season of 3:42.64, but that is just .33 of a second faster than UT Arlington and about .8 faster than Texas State. So, every handoff and tenth of a second will be critical to determine the winner.
To repeat as the 4x100 champ, the team will need to perform to perfection. Their time of 45.55 seconds is just .03 behind Texas State's best. But, that's just .22 better than Western Kentucky and .5 faster than Texas-Arlington. Once again, it can be the burst out of the starting block or any single baton handoff, or the lean at the finish that will determine the winner.
To earn all-conference again individually, Brewer will need to finish in the top three in in an event. She enters with a 11.79 clocking in the 100 meters, the fifth-best in that event, making every movement and tenth of a second is crucial. In the 200 meters, she has a 23.99 time that is sixth-fastest, but less than .75 of a second separates the top six times right now. Who can do it on championship day will determine the three all-conference medal winners.
As a busy youth growing up in south metro Atlanta, Brewer tried all the sports just like most active children do. She played soccer, tennis, took karate classes, ran cross country and played basketball. But, track eventually won out. She got started in track when a friend took her along to an event at Southwest Atlanta Christian Academy.
Her busy high school track career saw her relay team finish runner-up in the state and her qualify in both the 100m and 200m to finish sixth in the state championships. That kind of speed made multiple colleges notice, but she chose Georgia State for the nationally ranked business school, the city location and the track team's success. She also admitted falling in love with the Lofts apartment-style housing.
Every “up” story has a “down” and hers is no exception. When the GSU team won the Colonial Athletic Association championship her freshman year, she was sidelined as a result of stress fractures in both feet and could not participate. Obviously, she recovered and came back even stronger.
When asked to pin down a couple things she will always remember about Georgia State, Brewer picked the Sun Belt championship meet last year, winning as the new kids to the league. Becoming the three-time all-conference honoree was simply too special not to be a lifetime memory. Second, she chose the people she got to know during her four years at Georgia State. She singled out her growth as a person from getting to see the perspectives of others as important in her maturity. And, she truly learned how to multi-task between all the classes, all the athletic competitions and a social life.
Now, it is time to wait for the final set of numbers to be produced and learn their relative importance May 9-11 in the next chapter of Wande Brewer's college career.
