As a freshman, Maryland sprinter Armanie Coleman marveled at her roommate Rose Coats’ work ethic as a cross country runner.
“I used to ask her like, ‘Girl, what do you do?’” Coleman said. “She used to tell me she used to go on long runs in the morning … When we come back from our 6 a.m. hills, I used to see her running around campus at like 8. I’m like, ‘Girl, no, I can’t do that.’”
Coats reached the cross country national championships in November and posted the best finish for a Maryland runner since 1988.
Coleman’s front-row seat to Coats’ success in the fall inspired her to make a similar impact in short-distance track events. This winter, she’s done just that.
The sophomore quickly established herself as one of the Terps’ premier runners. Maryland opened the season at the Navy Invitational where she set a program record in the 200 meters with a time of 23.69 seconds.
She set another program record the next weekend, running 60 meters in 7.43 seconds at the Penn State Nittany Lion Challenge.
“I called it revenge tour, because most of the places that we’re going to, I’ve already been to my freshman year and I did not like the way I performed last time I was there,” Coleman said. “I’ve just been doing what I need to do.”
Coleman earned three top-15 finishes in indoor meets and eight top-15 finishes in outdoor meets as a freshman. But she felt she could still improve.
[Originally self-trained, Rose Coats has found a team with Maryland cross country]
Coleman said she woke up at 6 a.m. every day over the break and did crossfit in addition to her conditioning workouts at the track. In the fall, she started working with coach Dezerea Bryant-Moore, who was the USA Track & Field 200-meter dash champion in 2019 before she was hired as the women’s sprints coach in 2024.
“It’s so funny, cause all of us used to watch her run as kids,” Coleman said. “And now it’s like having her as a coach is like crazy.”
Bryant-Moore said she wasn’t surprised by Coleman breaking the school records. She helped the sprinter correct some areas of her technique and had her run farther distances to build her endurance.
Bryant-Moore said she was impressed that Coleman’s record-setting meets were around winter break after she and the rest of the team had to train by themselves at home for a few weeks.
“Over break, I just send like workouts for them to do while they’re back home with their families,” Bryant-Moore said. “The way that she came back, I was really impressed with just her ability to keep all the things that we worked on over the last few months and just kind of execute that.”
Coleman’s work ethic was forged through high school uncertainty about whether she’d make it to college track. She grew up in Jacksonville, Florida but decided on Maryland after taking a visit to the school and experiencing the environment.
Coleman said her family helped her get through an injury senior year of high school and gave her confidence that she would make it.
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There was an adjustment period for Coleman when she arrived at Maryland, especially in indoor season because high school track in Florida is mostly outdoors. To alleviate this, she started using a breathing mask in training to help with the stuffy indoor tracks.
Coats attributes some of Coleman’s success to how she prioritizes her health and wellbeing off the track. While they were roommates, Coats noticed that Coleman always prioritized sleep and healthy foods.
Coleman continued to build on her success throughout the season, tying her 60-meter school record and finishing second in the event at the Indiana Fairground Invitational in February.
She then competed at the Big Ten indoor championships, an even tougher meet this season with the additions of Oregon, USC and UCLA. Coleman finished 19th in the 60 meters and 22nd in the 200 meters, the fastest Maryland runner in both.
“It’s hard being young and scoring points at the Big Ten’s,” Coats said. “Because normally all the people taking up points are seniors or fifth years … so it can be a little difficult but definitely I think we can make impacts pretty soon.”
Coleman said while she recognizes her successes, she’s always striving for the next accomplishments. Still only in her second year, she has time to make them a reality.
“Once I got to [Big Ten] championships, of course [I was] like, ‘Thank God, I made it,’ but I like to overachieve,” Coleman said. “I don’t just want to be at Big Ten’s… I want to make it to nationals.”
