Senior Joenisha Vinson is leaving her mark on PSU women's track.
 
A quick look at her bio sheet shows that she owns seven school records, that her name appears in the PSU all-time top-10 list in 16 different events and that she has qualified two years running for the NCAA outdoor regional.  She also has a gold, three silvers and two bronze medals in the both indoor and outdoor championships of the Big Sky Conference.
 
What it doesn't tell you is that she also writes songs, is a rapper and has given three concerts in Arizona over the last couple of years (not this year because she's been too busy working on her list of track accomplishments and progressing toward her degree in English).
 
Vinson has written 40 songs and has done some recording. She works with a cousin.  The two don't play instruments, but mix instrumentals into their work in a studio.
 
And music figures big into her spare time.  She likes to write and listen to music “just about anything, with an emphasis on R&B and hip hop, but depending on my mood, just about anything”.
 
Her coach Seth Henson called Vinson “a natural talent,” not knowing the extent to some other facets to her talent.  What he meant was talent on the track.
 
Vinson began developing that portion of her talent early.  She started to play sports as soon as she was old enough and started running track and playing basketball at the age of 10.
 
She comes from an athletic family where everyone does sports.  Her dad (Joe Vinson) played basketball in high school and community college. Her mother Netha Bailey ran track and played volleyball, 23-year-old brother Joe and 22-year-old sister Shavelle play basketball.  Brothers Ashton, 18, and Juwan, 15, both play football and basketball.
 
With a family like that, “when you got old enough you did sports.  It was a natural,” Vinson said. 
 
She'd just been running for a year or two, when she realized that she might have a future as a runner.
 
The Phoenix, Ariz. native was running with the USA Track and Field Club, for a team called “Do Right” when she placed eighth at a national meet in the 200-meter hurdles.
 
Through high school, she continued to play basketball and run track, throwing in volleyball toward the end of her career “just for fun”.  And, during that time, she decided she liked running better than basketball.
 
“I like both track and basketball.  In fact, I love basketball.  Both are team sports.  At the end of the day, you're running as part of your team.  But, in track, I'm also running for myself,” Vinson said.
 
That decision ultimately narrowed her choice of universities to the Vikings.
 
Out of high school, she had interest from a number of schools…Santa Clara, Pen State, Liberty University.  But as a member of the South Mountain High School 2008 state basketball championship team, they all wanted her to play basketball.
 
Only PSU was interested in her ability on the track.  After all, she had won Arizona state championships as a hurdler all four years.
 
And, that's what she enrolled here to do.  But her track career broadened considerably as a sophomore.
 
“I came here as a hurdler and became a heptathlete as a sophomore (that includes 200 meter and 800 meter runs, 100-meter hurdles, shot put, javelin throw, high jump and long jump).  That meant I had to learn some other events.  And, I still have trouble with the high jump and javelin,” said Vinson. (She improved her javelin throw from 63'2” to 104'9” by switching to her right hand—she's a natural lefty.)  
 
The heptathlon has provided her college highlight so far.
 
Last season, she improved her personal best score to 5,227 at the Mt. SAC outdoor relay in California (and took a silver medal in the event at the Big Sky Championships later that year).  The new personal best “was particularly sweet because it came after I wanted to quit.  I wasn't doing well and I wanted to give up.  Then, I put everything together. I just had a good meet.”
 
Her favorite event is still the 100-meter hurdles.  “I've learned I don't get going until the fifth hurdle, so the 60-meters is too short.”
 
So then, how come she owns a silver medal in 55-meter hurdles and a fourth place in the 60-meter hurdles from the 2011 Big Sky indoor Championships?  Incidentally, she also owns PSU records in both events.
 
Said Henson:  “There aren't many athletes who are as naturally gifted and mentally tough as she is.  She's a true competitor.” 
 
Vinson said she runs because she loves it.  “I love competition.  It helps me be a better athlete.   At each meet, I want to race with the fastest people.  They push me to be better.  Even if I take last place, I want to run with them because it pushes me.”
 
She competes mainly with herself and she competes to prove to herself that “if you work hard you can be successful” and “just to show I'm as good as other athletes, as good as anyone else.  If I set a goal, I can reach that goal if I work hard.  It feels good.”
 
An English major with a communications minor, Vinson has one more year of eligibility indoors and is holding off graduation so she can take advantage of that.
 
She wants to write articles when she finishes and currently is working to get something published in an academic journal on the pros and cons of music in sports and exercise.
 
Growing up, the sports bond made for a close family and she found leaving it to come to Portland was a wrenching experience.
 
“My first year here, I'd go home every two or three months.  At winter break, I didn't want to come back. Being away from home, as a freshman living on my own, it was hard,” she recalled.
 
That passed and today “I'm really having fun.  The college experience (she'll be the first person in her family with a four-year degree) has been interesting”.    She'd been to Eugene for a couple of meets, but admits she's still not used to the difference between Phoenix nearly constant sun and, shall we say, Portland's somewhat damper climate.
 
On the other hand, “I like living downtown.  You're close to everything here, not like Phoenix where everything is so spread out” and she's discovered that “I kind of like the rain.  It's relaxing when I'm in the house and it's raining outside.”
      
Her track goal today is to become an All-American in the heptathlon.  “I want to go to the nationals.”
 
With her competitiveness and natural talent, who knows? Maybe someday her name will be featured on a music list somewhere, too.