', 4B - April 20, 2009 SportsMond'ay The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com OFILI: Leader and best in a Southern-dominated sport From page 1B Henry said it's human nature for an athlete to pace herself based on how other people are running, so it should come as no surprise that he likes Ofili to run alone. "It's like acar being on the high- way," he said. "If that car is around a bunch of other cars going 55, the fastest it will go is 60. But if Tiffa- ny's on the highway by herself, she can go about 80." Ofili's motor has been running faster than anyone else's for a while now. After arriving at Michigan in the fall of 2005, the freshman promptly broke school records in both the60- and 100-meter hurdles. She currently holds the nation's fast- est collegiate time in the 100-meter hurdles (12.88) and hasn't lost in her signature event, the high hurdles, in almost a year. The Ypsilanti native has clocked such ridiculously fast times in her four-year career that Henry often has to come up with new ways to push her in practices. When her pharmacy school schedule - 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. on Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays and 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Tues- days and Wednesdays - allows her to practice with her teammates, Henry routinely puts his star ath- lete at a disadvantage. He recently started Ofili 10 metersbehind one of her teammates in a 200-meter dash to challenge her. She still managed a tie. Though her times have always set her apart - she first broke Michi- gan's indoor and outdoor hurdles records as a freshman - the most noteworthy thing about Ofili's accomplishments is that they've come in the cold-weather state of Michigan. Since 1982, when the hurdles became an official event for the women's national championships, just Ofili and two others have won national titles for Midwestern schools. That-Ofili has four champi- onships is unheard of - in the Mid- west or otherwise. While she finds Michigan's cold weatherfrustrating,Ofilineverseri- ously considered competing in the South. Part of that had to do with limited recruitment from there. She also wanted to stay close to family and study pharmacy. Ofili takes pride in breaking the stereotype that runners from the North can't run as fast as their southern counterparts. "A lo ef athletes think that just because they go to a certain school that has a certain name that they'll automatically do well," said Ofili, who had practiced inside that day because of April snow. "There's more to it than that." NOT YOUR.TYPICAL NATIONAL CHAMPION The 21-year-old has a wide range of interests, most of which aren't tied to athletics. She seemingly con- trols her concern for sports like a light switch. If she, her teammates or her family aren't involved in a sporting event, Ofili probably won't take notice of it. When one considers her family's extensive sports history, it becomes a bit easier to understand. Her brother Alex, now 26, played football at Michigan. Her oldest brother, Frank, now 27, played foot- ball at Toledo. Her 14-year-old sister Cindy, who Tiffany lovingly calls "Joobie Boodie," is a high school freshman who plays basketball, vol- leyball and just beganrunningtrack. Ofili's father and uncles all ran track in college, too. "She'd rather be at home than go to Michigan football games on Sat- urday," said teammate Geena Gall, who's roomed with Ofili all four years. "She doesn't even buy sea- son tickets or anything. She'll only go to the games if we have a (track) recruitvisiting." Ofili said she has nothing against sports - they just aren't high on her list of priorities. "IfI had a choice between watch- ing 'House' and watching a basket- ball game, I'd watch 'House,'" she said. That she enjoys the medical TV drama is no shocker, given her interest in medicine. After three years as an undergrad inthe College of Literature, Science and the Arts, Ofili applied to and gained admis- sion from the College of Pharmacy last year. She's currently finishing her firstyear in the program. Pharmacy is among the four things - God, family and track being the other three - she con- siders most important. She cares about pharmacy so much that she plans to earn her degree in 2012, just months before that year's Sum- mer Olympics, in which Ofili hopes to compete. Though striking that balance sounds nearly impossible, those closest to her say she'll be able to accomplish both. Ofili has derived some of her big- gest loves from her parents. Her interest in education can be tied to her mom, who teaches first grad- ers in Detroit. Her desire to go into medicine comes from her Nigerian father, who is a retired eye doctor. The track star said her most- prized attribute -her faith in God - stems from her mother. Ofili attends Sunday church services every week, calling the routine something she ""never compromises." She frequently discussed her faith with her mother, Lillian, after one of her teammates, Joi Smith, died from a quick-spreading cancer in Nov. 2007. "That shook her up a lot," Lil- lian said. "She talked about Jai a lot. I just told her to stay prayerful because you never know what may happen in life." Ofili heeded her mother's advice. Shortly after her teammate's death sophomore year, she made a vow to run each race like it was her last. "Joi's passing really made me dig deeper and explore what's impor- tant in life," Ofili said. "It's really easy to get caught up in what's hap- pening every day and not appreciate things as much as you should. What happened with Joi made me look at things differently." MOVING BEYOND OBSCURITY In the three years that have passed since Smith's death, Ofili has become the nation's top collegiate hurdler. At times, using the word "domi- nant" to describe her performances would be an understatement. She's reset her own records in the 60- and 100-meter hurdles 12 times (she shattered the 60-meter hurdles mark three times in a four-week span her sophomore year). Ofili claimed her first national title as a sophomore and has won her last four NCAA championship meets. She'll be the hands-down favorite when she vies for a fifth consecutive hurdles crown in June. But she's still got more to prove. Her dominance alone hasn't gar- nered the attention of the trackcom- munity - let alone her classmates at Michigan - yet. Asked why Ofili still competes in relative obscurity, Henry cited geography.. "If she were at a USC or a Texas, she would be on the covers of track magazinesbynow," said Henry,add- ing that the lack of attention doesn't FILE PHOTO/Daily Senior Tiffany Ofili practices with teammates by givingthem a tO-meter head start - she still wins. bother Ofili. "Even most people in our athletic department don't know about her." Ofili was close to changing all that last year. She narrowly missed qualifyingfor the U.S.Olympic Trial Finals in the 100-meter hurdles, the competition that determines which American runners will go to the Olympics. The race, in which the top eight finishers advance, saw Ofili come up just shy of the final spot. Her finish, .004 seconds behind the eighth-place finisher, was so close that officials had to calculate her time out to the thousandths (the process is almost always done by the hundredths). Only then did Ofili find out that she'd placed ninth and not eighth. She called the process "bitter- sweet," saying she was honored to run against the best in the world, but disappointed to finish so close without earning an invitation to the Olympics. "It's definitely motivation for the next time," she said. Because of her youth - she was the youngest of the top nine finish- ers - andhercollegiatesuccess,Ofili is expected to be a force to contend with in the 2012 Olympic Trials. In an effort to meet that expectation, she plans to continue training on campus with Henry after this year, much like former Michigan swim- ming coach Bob Bowman trained Michael Phelps before the 2008 Olympics. Ofili expects her regi- men to stay consistent while she's in,, pharmacy school. "Not having the block 'M' on my chest will be the only difference," she said. That and the fact that people will know exactly who she is - at least if she accomplishes what her coach thinks she can. "Ithink she'llhbreak the American recordandtheneventuallybreakthe world record someday," Henry said. "When? I don't know. But as long as she keeps the drive and fire that she has now, I think she will do it." 4 Opportunity keeps knocking All those cynics out there say opportunity only knocks once. Of course that's because they never worked here with us. We invite you to explore opportunities at GE in o number of disciplines. www.ge.com/careers 4 4 0, im agination at work