The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Joseph Davis: New season, new role, new mindset
02.01.2007 | Track & Field / Cross Country m, Track & Field / Cross Country
Building upon new and old experiences, junior Joseph Davis enters the season with a new leadership role and a new mindset.
The horizontal jumper from San Antonio, Texas, had a good season last year. The third-year Longhorn earned All-American honors as the second leg of UT's seventh-place distance-medley relay (9:40.71) at the NCAA Indoor Championships. He ran with Darren Brown, Kyle Miller and Jake Morse.
The relay success continued during the outdoor season as Davis ran a segment of the DMR that set a new school-record with a top national time of 9:33.10 at the Penn Relays. The quartet also won the DMR at the Texas Relays, marking the first time since 1948 a Longhorn group won the DMR.
Although Davis has had success with the relay, his main event is the triple jump. The Big 12 Conference honoree was fifth at the 2005 indoor conference meet and seventh in the triple during the 2006 indoor and outdoor league championships.
Davis deems last season as a learning experience for him. Discovering that it is all about preparation, getting focused, and taking what you do very seriously. The Longhorns are taking extreme measures to ensure these goals.
"We are working hard everyday," he shared. "We are working hard in the weight room, trying to get stronger, and concentrating on staying consistent throughout the year.
"As far as our team goals, we are preparing to first win the conference and then go for a national championship," Davis explained.
On and off the field, Davis is trying to capitalize on past experiences in order to increase his success on the track field for this season and help bring home a national title. Believing last year he had a "sophomore slump", he is taking new measures -- preparing himself for events ahead of time -- making sure he eats well, gets enough rest and arrives at meets early. Davis also points out that knowing when his event is and staying focused has helped him compete, as well as stand out as a leader.
In preparation for the upcoming track campaign, Davis has established objectives for himself such as qualifying for nationals with a triple jump of at least 52 feet and joining the Big 12 Champion DMR. (He did not run at the conference meet.)
"I am trying to be more goal-oriented, not setting them too high but just making sure they are attainable. I am pushing myself to do better than I have in the past," Davis proudly stated.
"I feel really confident I can accomplish those goals," said Davis. "I am a lot stronger this year. And as far as are competition looks, I am right up there with everybody. This season, I will put my jumps together for the meets, run hard on the DMR, and possibly run the open 400m and hopefully put down a nice time in that."
Described by his teammates as a quiet individual, Davis recognizes that it is his time to step up and take a leadership role for his team as an upperclassman. His self-proclaimed leadership style is that of leading by example.
"When I am out there, I really try to lead by example, especially with the new guys," Davis explained. "There are other guys on the team who try to lead by talking but I kind of consider myself to be a quiet leader, so I really concentrate on leading by example. I expect everybody out there to know why they are out there and I just try to show them the ropes."
This new mindset and leadership role are just a few of the new things we can expect from Joseph Davis. This season Davis claims we can expect him to be up on the winner's podium, looking not only to score points for the team but to also win championships.
