Rutgers-Newark Athletics

By Jim Hague
 
Dominique Roberts didn’t come to Rutgers-Newark last year to become a member of the track and field team.
 
Roberts arrived in Newark from Pennsauken High School to join the women’s basketball program. Roberts has played the last two seasons for the Scarlet Raiders as a reserve guard.
 
Rutgers-Newark head track and field coach Juan Edney didn’t even know who Roberts was.
 
“I didn’t know anything about her,” Edney said. “I didn’t know what she looked like. I dropped the ball a little because she was a pretty decent half miler in high school. She came on campus and told everyone that she wanted to run track.”
 
Roberts got the inkling that she could be competitive as a runner from her high school coach, Phil Zimmerman.
 
“He looked up the school record and told me that my times were close to the school record,” Roberts said of Zimmerman. “At first, I didn’t want to run track in college. I thought it would be too much. But then I met the team and found that they were all nice and genuine, then I decided to run. It felt like I was home.”
 
When Roberts first arrived, Edney had no idea how good Roberts could be.
 
“She wasn’t able to come to our early practices,” Edney said. “I was pushing her so hard that she tried to quit, but I wouldn’t let her.”
 
Roberts admitted that Edney was a little tougher to deal with than basketball coach Kevin Morris.
 
“Coach Edney is tougher,” Roberts said. “He’s always on my back. He’s always in my ear. I did want to quit. I wasn’t mature enough, mature as I should have been, as Coach Edney would say it. He made me realize that it would be childish to quit, so I decided to finish it out, whether I like it or not.”
 
Roberts showed a lot of promise during her freshman year and sure enough, she broke the Rutgers-Newark school record for the 800-yard run, eclipsing 2:21.
 
“She showed the talent that she has,” Edney said. “For her to not run the whole season and put that time up was incredible.”
 
But after her freshman year, Roberts considered concentrating on basketball and foregoing track and field.
 
“I thought she wasn’t coming back,” Edney said. “I told her that if she wanted to be here, she had to be here. She had to come to offseason training. I told her she needed to get her act together if she really wanted to run.”
 
Roberts told Edney that she was going to give track another try during the outdoor season, right after basketball season ended.
 
However, Roberts suffered a concussion toward the end of the Scarlet Raiders’ basketball season, knocking her to the sidelines.
 
“I’m still getting into shape,” Roberts said. “I’m getting close. It’s going to take a little longer than last year because I got hurt. But everyone tells me I can be an excellent track runner.”
 
“She lost a lot of time due to the concussion,” Edney said. “I’m trying to speed her back up. She loves to run the 800 (meter run). I’m also trying to get her to be part of the (4x400-meter) relay.”
 
Roberts posted a 2:29 in her first outdoor meet of the season at the Shamrock Invitational on the campus of Coastal Carolina University in Myrtle Beach, S.C. last week.
 
“It’s not bad for someone who hasn’t run that much,” Edney said. “We want to get her down to 2:12. If she can do that, then I’ll be really impressed. I like Dom. She just needs to be pushed. She’s lazy and she’ll admit that she’s lazy.”
 
Roberts agreed.
 
“I think I am lazy,” Roberts said. “He (Edney) is right. I think it’s just a matter of putting the hard work in that I need to do. Coach Edney called me a natural from the first day of practice. He has faith in me. When I get in the moment, I want to go. That’s just the competitor in me.”
 
Roberts said that she doesn’t want to give up basketball to concentrate on track.
 
“It’s in my blood,” Roberts said. “I’ve been playing basketball since I was seven. I started running track in eighth grade. I can’t give it up. It would be so tough to do so.”
 
“She’s a natural runner,” Edney said. “If you want to compare basketball to track, I think she’s better in track, but I’m not a basketball coach. If she set her mind to it, came out to run cross country, then indoor and outdoor, she could be very good. It’s not too farfetched to think that. She’s talented and you can’t teach talent. It’s something that she has in her.”
 
However, that won’t happen.
 
“I told myself that I wouldn’t run cross country in college,” Roberts said. “I’m not fond of it.”
 
Roberts is a criminal justice major at Rutgers-Newark. She’s planning on pursuing a double major in anthropology.
 
“I would love to be a police detective for the state,” Roberts said. “Maybe I’ll move out west. I have an uncle who lives in California. I would love to know what the other part of the country is like.”
 
For now, Roberts will continue to be a multi-sport athlete at R-N.
 
“I want to qualify for the ECACs this year,” Roberts said. “That’s my goal. I think I can do it. It gives me something to shoot for.”
 
“She’s a great kid,” Edney said. “I love her. The majority of the time, she has such a wide smile on her face. She’s not a problem kid. She’s a coach’s joy. We’re working on her endurance now, because you can’t run well by just showing up.”
 
Roberts has more than shown up this season – and she’s ready to make her presence felt.
 
“I’d just like to get some recognition,” Roberts said. “That’s all I’m hoping for.”