Freshman track and field athlete A’Iesha Irvin-Muhammad has battled through nagging feet injuries this season but has still been one of NIU’s top sprinters.

Irvin-Muhammad made her name known quickly when she automatically qualified in two events for the Indoor MAC Championships in just her second meet — the first meet back from winter break — at the University of Illinois Illini Classic Jan. 18, where NIU had a third-place finish out of 10 teams.

The East St. Louis native’s 25.10 first-place finish and 7.64 second-place finish in the 60 meters and 200 meters, respectively, automatically placed her in the top 20 in each event at the MAC Championships, which are Friday to Saturday and will be hosted by Kent State.

After the Illini Classic, the freshman started having minor issues with her feet, which limited her action in both practice and competition, but things have turned around.

“Right now, they are both feeling really good,” Irvin-Muhammad said. “The last two meets, I’ve only had one race just getting my feet back under me, but I’m ready to go for conference.”

Irvin-Muhammad is also an alternate leg for the Huskies’ 4-by-400 relay team. Head coach Connie Teaberry said Irvin-Muhammad is not just a short-sprint athlete, and if the time comes that she has to step into the 400, then she can perform just as well in that event.

“I think A’Iesha can be a driving force in the 100, 200 and 400 meters,” Teaberry said. “As she gets stronger, those 400 times will go down, and as those times go down she’ll get even better in the 200 and 100 because it will make her stronger for those shorter events.

“Coming in as a freshman we focus more on those shorter events while we try to get them stronger and have more endurance for the 400.”

The sprinter had a successful high school career at St. Elizabeth Academy, where she was a Missouri Class-II state champion and a state record holder in both the 100 and 200 meters her senior season.

She said the time she spent with Olympic medalist Jackie Joyner-Kersee since first seeing her speak at the age of 9 in the St. Louis area is a big reason behind her success and her love for track and field.

“She actually came to the community center in East St. Louis,” Irvin-Muhammad said. “That’s where I really got my start for track, and senior year she came to my school and we had a talk. She realized I was coming here to NIU. She said I had a good coach on my hands in coach Teaberry.

“Then one last time when she came here to NIU in October, we really had a bigger, longer talk then. She was telling me I can do anything, being with coach Teaberry and coach [Vince] Bingham I can be well on my way to becoming someone great in the track and field world and as a person.”

Irvin-Muhammad said seeing Joyner-Kersee and hearing advice from one of the people she looked up to most growing up made a major impact on her.

“She’s one of my biggest inspirations,” Irvin-Muhammad said. “She’s the reason why I started running track, so hearing that from her really made me think… I can really do this and her having faith in me and her backing me and hopefully I’m on my way to doing those things we talked about.”