Somiyah Braggs Maristela interview on Pitt and senior year

The Somiyah Braggs Maristela interview traces how a childhood habit of running led Braggs into track and field, where she followed a mother who had held records. The University of Pittsburgh athlete also explained why mindset and team support matter to her, and how she arranged mostly online classes around her senior-year internship, practice and video work.

How did Somiyah Braggs get started in track and field?

Somiyah Braggs said her parents put her in track and field after watching her run repeatedly at a park. Her mother had competed in the sport and held records, giving Braggs a family connection to track from the beginning. She said she has stayed with the sport ever since.

Running at the park

Braggs knows the story of her start through her parents. They told her that when the family was at a park, she kept running, so they enrolled her in track and field. She did not describe a planned introduction to a particular event; what stood out to her parents was simply how much she wanted to run.

Her mother’s track and field records

Her mother’s experience gave that decision another dimension. Braggs said her mother did track and field and held records, and she believes her parents may have expected her to carry on that legacy. She did not specify which records her mother held. For Braggs, the park story and her mother’s history explain why the sport became part of her life so early.

What did Somiyah Braggs say about mental preparation in athletics?

Somiyah Braggs said an athlete has to arrive at the track mentally ready to compete. In her view, a poor mindset can affect the race an athlete runs or the event they perform. She treated mental preparation as part of competing, not as something separate from physical work.

Braggs made the point in practical terms: an athlete can reach the track, but still needs to be ready to go once there. She connected that readiness directly to performance in races and other events, rather than describing a particular pre-race ritual or technique.

Braggs put her central point this way:

Your mindset has to be there because if your mindset not there, it's gonna affect you in the races that you run or the event that you do.

That emphasis on being ready also helps explain why she values support from the people around her. She described the team environment as important because athletes want to feel supported, and she gave examples of activities that bring her teammates together away from competition.

How does Somiyah Braggs describe her team at the University of Pittsburgh?

Somiyah Braggs said feeling supported is a major benefit of being on a track and field team. At the University of Pittsburgh, she has taken part in team activities beyond practice, including volunteering and gatherings at a coach’s house. Those shared events are part of what makes the team environment valuable to her.

Support from teammates

Braggs said the team environment matters because most athletes like to feel supported. She presented that feeling as an important part of her experience in track and field, alongside the demands of competing. Her examples focused on time spent together rather than a particular meet or result.

Volunteering and a visit to her coach’s house

She said her team has held activities each year she has been at Pitt, including volunteering. She also described an upcoming visit to her coach’s house to carve pumpkins, eat and take pictures. For Braggs, events like those are a concrete way the team builds the sense of support she values.

How is Somiyah Braggs balancing senior year, practice and an internship?

Somiyah Braggs said balancing school and athletics has become easier by her senior year, though finding that balance took time from freshman year onward. She asked her academic advisor for mostly online classes so she could manage an internship, practice and video work, while remaining open to one or two in-person classes.

Choosing mostly online classes

Braggs described her class request as a response to the commitments already in her week. Alongside coursework, she has an internship, attends practice and makes videos. Mostly online classes, she told her advisor, seemed like the best fit for that combination; she did not say she wanted to avoid campus classes entirely.

Work and events after class

On days when she has class, Braggs tries to do some work afterward and finish by eight o’clock. That target does not always hold. Her internship can require her to attend events, and there are also athlete events connected to careers after college.

Her account of senior year is about managing several responsibilities at once, not replacing one with another. Classes, an internship, practice and video work all remain on her schedule, while career-focused events can extend the day beyond the time she had hoped to stop working.

What did Somiyah Braggs say about recovery, nutrition and missions?

Somiyah Braggs said her busy schedule affects when she can use the team’s training room. She also discussed eating meals and snacks for nutrients, protein and carbohydrates, drinking water and having electrolytes. Separately, she said she works with missions and uses its cooling products when conditions get hot, particularly in Miami.

Training-room time and food between meals

Braggs said the team has a training room and that she tries to get there when her schedule allows. She did not describe a fixed recovery timetable. The difficulty she identified was finding time amid the other commitments she had described during her senior year.

For food, she discussed breakfast, lunch and dinner with snacks in between to help get nutrients, protein and carbohydrates. She also mentioned water and electrolytes. Those were the details she gave about her nutrition; she did not set out a specific meal plan.

missions products in hot conditions

Braggs said she works with missions, which has products including cooling towels, headbands, socks and hats. She said the cooling items help her when she gets hot and singled out Miami as a place where heat is a concern for her. She did not describe the terms of her work with the brand.

Who is Somiyah Braggs?

Somiyah Braggs is an NCAA track and field athlete at the University of Pittsburgh who specializes in sprints and hurdles and aspires to become an Olympian. She chose Pitt for its supportive coaches, welcoming teammates and academic programs. Away from athletics, she enjoys dancing, writing and watching football; her favorite athletes are Sha’Carri Richardson and Usain Bolt.