Roosevelt’s Tiana Burgess excelling despite being new to track and field

Sometimes, the reward of victory is followed by the pain of necessity.

Tiana Burgess enjoyed the highlight of her season at the recent OIA track and field championships, winning the 300-meter hurdles in 46.13 seconds, besting her previous personal record of 46.35. The Roosevelt senior also won the triple jump with a distance of 37 feet, 5.5 inches.

Burgess also placed first in the 100 hurdles with a time of 14.84 seconds. She placed third in the 100 dash in 12.7 seconds. It was another busy day for Roosevelt’s iron woman.

“I’m so excited. It was surprising because, at times, I was thinking, I don’t know if I could do that,” Burgess said.

Two days after her championship day, she went to the dentist and promptly had all four wisdom teeth pulled. Four days after that, she had a photo shoot.

“I look like a chipmunk,” Burgess said.

This week, the Island Movers/HHSAA Track and Field State Championships return to historic War Memorial Stadium in Wailuku for the first time since 2019. Trials are on Friday, with the finals on Saturday. Elite athletes like Tatum Moku will have their shot at building on a legacy. Moku, the state record-holder in the pole vault, is in peak form, the one to beat in the vault and sprints.

Burgess is one of the few with the raw talent, work ethic and desire to reach a new level. She might give Moku a push.

“The pandemic really hurt. We’re kind of coming back to fast times,” Roosevelt track and field coach Derrek Higa said. “This year there’s some really fast kids. It should be interesting between her and Tatum Moku. She’s a special kid in her own right.”

Like Moku, Burgess has some family roots in track. Her father, Kareem Burgess, competed in the 4×100 and 4×200 relays, and the triple and long jumps at the 1998 Penn Relays. Unlike Moku, Burgess didn’t try track until high school.

“I wasn’t interested in sports until middle school. I only played sports because of my brothers (Rashaad, Elijah),” she said.

There was the After School All-Stars program. There was flag football, basketball, softball, volleyball. When she arrived at Roosevelt, she played junior varsity football, followed by hoops and track.

“It was the year we got shut down in the pandemic,” Higa said. “So we only had a month and a half, and that was our season. Tiana showed a lot of promise, but we didn’t know she would blossom like this in the past year.”

Burgess wasn’t sure what to expect.

“It was kind of scary. It was my first time doing track. Even though we’re part of a team, almost every event you do it’s like an individual sport,” she recalled.

It takes a certain knack to do hurdles. Burgess had it from the start.

“When I first started doing hurdles, my coach would tell me, ‘You’re a natural, you’re good at it.’ The fact that I picked it up quick, but the season got cut. I knew, next season, we’re going back,” she said.

Assistant coaches Ayumu Yokota and Aaron Cox helped Burgess hone her raw athleticism one day at a time.

“Bringing them in really helped,” Higa said of Yokota, a former head coach, and Cox, a former state champion from Waipahu. “We saw that she had talent. If she did high jump, she would do good in that. She’s also dabbled in shot put.”

Higa sees some similarities with a former local great.

“She’s kind of like a Vera Simms,” Higa said of the former Mililani standout.

Simms set the 300 hurdles record with a time of 42.8 seconds. She went on to hurdle for Michigan. Her mark has stood for 23 years.

Burgess passed on football during sophomore year, and basketball and track seasons were abbreviated, with a regular season but no postseason, due to pandemic restrictions.

As a junior, she played varsity football and basketball and finally got to compete in track and field championships.

This year, she is at her peak. She began senior year with a new sport: cross country.

“Ooh, it was hard because it’s all mental. I’m glad I did it because it kept my mind strong. My endurance and stamina, it went up,” Burgess said.

Now, she is at the end of her prep career.

“I’m so excited. I’ve been waiting for states since last year. I can’t wait to compete in my last two (trials and finals) meets,” Burgess said.

Friendships between track and field athletes are often among the most lasting.

“What makes ‘T’ an awesome friend is that she is so encouraging,” teammate Jah-naya Reyes-Duffey said. “She is genuine and caring. She never fails to put a smile on my face and I can always count on ‘T’ for anything and everything.”

Beyond graduation, Burgess is taking a close look at continuing her track career at a JUCO in California. Riverside Community College, she said, has on-campus housing.

“My financial aid pays for my school. The room and board, I’ve got to pay for. I’m actually turning into an adult,” she said.

Her grade-point average last quarter, Burgess noted, was 3.714. For a time, she was interested in early childhood education.

“I might go into athletic training or kinesiology,” she said. “Or business.”

Higa and staff will miss Burgess and their outgoing seniors.

“She’s an awesome kid who’s willing to work hard,” Higa said. “Through her hard work we’ve seen her growth, and the results have paid off.”

Kareem and Share Burgess’ patience has made Tiana’s success even sweeter.

“While I’m so proud of her academic and athletic accomplishments, I’m even more proud of the young woman she has become,” Kareem said. “As a parent, you don’t always have all the answers, but you try the best that you can with what you have. Tiana has exceeded all of my expectations and I thank God for her mother and siblings.”

Share Burgess has enjoyed the process with her daughter.

“I’m proud that Tiana always tries to be the best that she can be as an individual. She works hard as an athlete even though she has those days where she complains how hard a practice was,” she said. “This year, she made me proud by how hard she worked to keep her grades up.”

TIANA BURGESS

Roosevelt senior • Track and field, basketball, cross country, football

>> Top 3 movies/shows: 1. “Fast and Furious” series, 2. “Maze Runner,” 3. “The Divergent” series. “I don’t want a fast car. I just like how everybody’s a family.”

>> Top 3 foods/drinks: 1. Mango with extra boba (Thang’s French Coffee & Bubble Tea, Downtown). 2. Jack in the Box tacos. 3. Raising Cane’s. “I don’t think there’s beans in (the tacos). There’s a type of meat. I love Raising Cane’s, especially their sauce. I get an extra one on the side.”

>> Top 4 homemade food: 1. Mom’s seafood boil, 2. Mom’s pork adobo, 3. Grandpa’s smoked meat, 4. Mom’s fried rice “My mom (Share Burgess) makes these when I ask for it. I can make fried rice. My grandpa (Patrick Pias) lives on the Big Island and he brings it when they visit here. He also sells lumpia.”

>> Top 3 music artists/favorite song: 1. Drake (“July”), 2. Jhené Aiko (“W.A.Y.S.”), 3. Rod Wave (“Ribbon in the Sky”)

>> Favorite athlete/team: Masai Russell (University of Kentucky, SEC champion). “She does hurdles. Right now, I’m pretty sure she has the fastest time in college. She just inspires me. I’ll be watching how she hurdles, tight with some things, and I’m all over the place.”

>> Funniest teammate: Reece Poscablo. “He’s just goofy. He’s one of our hurdlers.”

>> Smartest teammate: Everett Perry. “He’s quiet, but at the same time, his mind is really smart. Just talking with him, having a conversation.”

>> Favorite teacher: Mr. Cameron Troutman. “He’s my advisory teacher. He’s one of the chillest, laid-back teachers I ever met. “

>> Favorite class: Hula. “My auntie used to have a halau and I used to dance for her when I was 5 or 6. I stopped when I was fifth grade, then I started again in high school. It was kind of hard, because when you do ‘auana, you have to dance soft, pretty and nice. My hands weren’t flow-y. I’m in Hula 4 now, so I’ve gotten way better.”

>> Hidden talent: “I braid my own hair like box braids.”

>> New life skill: “Having empathy, being able to see things from another person’s point of view instead of just my own.”

>> Bucket list: Bali, Jamaica. “Just to be able to live the life I’ve been dreaming of and giving back to my family for everything they done for me.”

>> Time machine: “I would travel back to the 1990s, because that era was most definitely something different in a good way. I like the way they used to dress, and their music.”

>> Shoutouts: “Mahalo to my akua, family, coaches, friends, everybody who supported through sports. I appreciate everything you guys have done to push me and watch me strive to be successful in the sport I love. Again, mahalo everyone for all the love and support.”