Oregon Sprint Champion Has John Parks And 2012 Olympian Ryan Bailey In Her Corner As She Approaches Nike Indoor Nationals And The Upcoming Outdoor Season

By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor

LAKE OSWEGO – The first time Ryan Bailey watched Mia Brahe-Pedersen sprint, in a low-key dual meet two years ago, he took mental notes of all the correctable flaws.

The freshman from Lake Oswego ran 11.94 in the 100 meters that day. A so-so race by her standards at that time. She had already run faster.

Bailey studied her mechanics as she flew down the track, then turned to his own former coach and mentor, John Parks.

"I went down a list of things she was doing terribly," Bailey said. "But, she was ridiculously fast. Oh my God, she's doing that running like this. I was freaking out a little bit."

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By then, Parks had already seen Brahe-Pedersen and was more than a little intrigued by her talent.

Within a few months, Parks and Bailey were working with Brahe-Pedersen sporadically. As she began to implement the information they were giving her, her times dropped.

In 2022, as a sophomore, Brahe-Pedersen broke Oregon's 54-year-old state record in the 100 meters when she ran a wind-legal 11.25 at the USATF U20 Championships. She also ran a wind-aided 11.09 twice.

She also ran 22.95 in the 200 meters in the semifinals of the World Athletics U20 Championships in Cali, Colombia, a performance that put her 20th on the all-time high school list.

On Jan. 27, Parks was hired to be the head track and field coach at Lake Oswego High.

And Bailey, whom Parks found aimlessly strolling the hallways of McKay High in Salem, Ore., in 2005 before setting a course to fourth place in the 2012 Olympic Games, became the sprints coach.

One of Bailey's highlights was running the anchor leg on a U.S. 4x100 relay that beat Jamaica and Usain Bolt at the 2015 World Relays. 

Not long after taking those jobs, Parks and Bailey were in New Mexico with Brahe-Pedersen when she broke the national high school record in the 200 meters at the Don Kirby Elite Invitational. She ran nearly stride for stride with Oregon's Jadyn Mays, an NCAA qualifier, on the way to 22.89 seconds.

In the immediate aftermath, Brahe-Pedersen felt the sting of disappointment. She had lost the race. And she had stumbled in her third step out of the blocks. 

Only when she saw the time did she allow the self-criticism to fade. Even she can't argue with a national record. 

This week, Brahe-Pedersen will close out the indoor portion of her junior sesaon when she competes in the 60 meters and 200 meters with her Inner Circle Track Club teammates at Nike Indoor Nationals at The Armory in New York City.

As she thinks beyond that, to April and May and during the summer, Brahe-Pedersen knows that expectations are sky-high. She is already, perhaps, the greatest female track athlete in state history. And where in 2022, she had a series of compelling races against Roosevelt's Lily Jones, this time she will have no one close to her (at least within the state). Jones is now a freshman at Oregon.

"I've been thinking about that all fall and all winter," Brahe-Pedersen said. "I have so much to live up to. I can't have people thinking I peaked in my sophomore year. This year's going to be different because I don't have Lily pushing me and I'm going to miss her a lot. Because even though we were competitors, we were also close friends."

The new way forward also includes daily interaction with Parks and Bailey.

Before he came to Oregon to become a high school teacher and coach, Parks got his first taste of coaching in college, at Auburn, under the legendary Mel Rosen.

Parks coached Lance Brauman, who competed for Auburn and now trains world champions Noah Lyles and Shaunae Miller-Uibo, among others.

It was Parks who steered Bailey into track and then practically took on the role of father as he managed to coach him to an Oregon high school record, an opportunity at Rend Lake Community College, and eventually to an Olympic final and pro career representing Nike.

Bailey's track career was slowed by injuries after 2015. He tried to make it onto the U.S. Olympic bobsled team, but he was flagged for a doping violation. He and another member of the bobsled group took a store-bought dietary supplement that was approved for training, but not for competition.

Bailey sought to clear his name in the Court of Arbitration for Sport, but received a two-year sanction beginning in 2017.

Now years past that, Bailey harbors some regret and disappointment for how he didn't get everything he could have from his professional athletics career.

Bailey, 33, wants to impart all of the things he learned to Brahe-Pedersen.

"She is eager to learn and wants to work," he said. "I want to see her destroy every record possible. Everything I've learned in my career I can put into her, from avoiding injuries, being in a good mental space, things I wished I would have known."

At practice, Bailey can offer demonstrations and his playful personality reduces stress.  

"I'm so lucky to have Ryan around," Brahe-Pedersen said. "He lightens the mood and keeps it fun, but the experience he has helps keep me calm and helps me through it, especially mentally.

"John breaks things down, keeps things technical, keeps things real."

Last week, with remnants of a recent snowstorm lining the fringes of the track, Brahe-Pedersen moved through a workout that included starts where she was pulling a 30-pound weight attached by a harness, a series of starts on the track, and a handful of intervals: 40-60-80-150.

After each repetition, Brahe-Pedersen and a couple of her teammates huddled with Parks, who reviewed each movement with his Ipad. He fed them feedback on reaction times, the angles of their shins and the backswing of their heels.

Parks can explain the minutiae of sprinting in a way few can.

Brahe-Pedersen strives to internalize and perfect every movement.

"She's a coach's dream," Parks said. "She's the most focused athlete I've ever had. She's very determined."

Lake Oswego coach Vince Kinney, who guided the girls team to the state championship last season, took an assistant coaching job with Lewis & Clark College earlier this year.

Parks, who teaches social studies at West Salem High about 45 miles away, was hired as a replacement and has brought together a staff that not only includes Bailey, but also former NCAA champion Elijah Greer to work with the distance group.

After a few years of private coaching, Parks is ready to take on the entire Lakers program while providing an elite training model for Brahe-Pedersen.

"She's got two things that make her special," Parks said. "She was born with a high-firing motor, and she's refining it. She's also a quick learner and she works on her strengths as well as her weaknesses."

Brahe-Pedersen came home from New Mexico three weeks ago wearing a boot and using crutches. In the 60 meters, the day following her record-breaking 200, she ran through the finish line with a new PR of 7.26 seconds and jammed her foot.

The boot was "an abundance of caution," Brahe-Pedersen said, and fortunately there wasn't a serious injury.

Still, she stayed off her foot for more than a week. On Wednesday, Feb. 22, the first day she was cleared to run, she went to the high school track. As it turned out, there was a snowstorm that day – one of the area's biggest in 80 years.

"I thought, I've only got 16 days until nationals, I've got to get out there," Brahe-Pedersen said. "I've got to start moving."

It wasn't really a workout. Just seven strides along the back stretch as fluffy white powder accumulated on the track. Brahe-Pedersen, wrapped in layers of workout clothes, picked a different line each time so that she didn't run on packed ice and risk slipping.

Her mother took out her phone and shot a video, but Brahe-Pedersen was oblivious to it.

Instead, she was making the best use of her time. Preparing for nationals. Dreaming of The Armory and all of the opportunities that will come after.

And not letting a single day go to waste.