This feature originally appeared in the 2022 Spring edition of the Cal Sports Quarterly. The Cal Athletics flagship magazine features long-form sports journalism at its finest and provides in-depth coverage of the scholar-athlete experience in Berkeley. Printed copies are mailed four times a year to Bear Backers who give annually at the Bear Club level (currently $600 or more). For more information on how you can receive a printed version of the Cal Sports Quarterly at home, send an email to CalAthleticsFund@berkeley.edu or call (510) 642-2427.




The warm Berkeley sun on a winter afternoon hits the track in Edwards Stadium just so, causing the brows of Cal's horizontal jumpers to furrow uncomfortably as sweat threatens to bead on the skin.
 
With the outdoor track & field season approaching, these daily practices are essential for the nation's elite athletes. The satisfaction and pride triggered by a successful performance, after all, reflect countless – and unglamorous – hours of preparation put in behind the scenes.
 
For each session, the jumpers line up at the start of the runway in single file. One at a time, they run, then leap into a pit filled with soft sand. A rake lies discarded next to the pit, so that upon rising to their feet each jumper can smooth the landing surface out for the next person.
 
Run, jump, repeat.
 
It is a simple routine, almost soothing in its relative monotony. 
 
Run, jump, repeat.
 
For two of the jumpers, each practice at Edwards represents another step forward in a journey that has taken both of them from the same starting point to their current location. Felicia Renelus and Ijeoma Uche are both new to Cal track & field, having spent their undergraduate years at Brown University and competed together on the school's track & field team. Now, as Golden Bears, the two are ready to maximize their talents after leaving Brown with the indoor and outdoor long jump records (Uche) and the sixth-best triple jump and 10th-best long jump in that program's history (Renelus).
 
In their first indoor season at Cal, the two were able to put their experience to good use. Renelus finished her 2022 indoor campaign with the eighth-longest triple jump in program history, while Uche recorded the school's 10th-farthest long jump.
 
The coincidence of two horizontal jumpers from Brown ending up at Berkeley was unplanned, although Uche and Renelus followed similar lines of thinking in making their respective choices to pursue further schooling at Cal. For Uche's part, she was impressed with what she had heard about the University's commitment to its students and the Bay Area as a whole. Renelus wanted to "get away from everything (she'd) ever known," having grown up in New York before spending her undergraduate years in Rhode Island, and was also intrigued by what she had learned about the innovation-focused Bay Area.
 
"Two birds with one stone," Renelus said. "By coming to Cal, I could finish my track career and get the master's degree that I really wanted. I just feel like I have so much more left to do."
 
Both Renelus and Uche expressed dissatisfaction with having their eligibility at Brown interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic; to them, Cal represented a chance to finish what they had started and test themselves against Power 5 competition. Additionally, Uche pointed out, the Bears are an outdoor-focused team, in contrast to the indoor-focused programs of New England universities.
 
"I'm interested and excited to see what that's like," Uche said, smiling.
 
The similarities between the two would seem to end there – Renelus is pursuing her master's degree in design, while Uche's graduate studies are focused on public health with a specialization in maternal, child and adolescent health.
 
A cognitive science major at Brown, Renelus became interested in learning more about the design field when she enrolled in a class titled Psychology of Creativity. "I've always been into learning about what makes people more creative or things more innovative," she said. "There's so much in the world of design, the world of art."
 
Her thesis research into 3D perception lent itself well to her newfound passion. "Cognitive science is super interdisciplinary," explained Renelus. "There's a big psych component into understanding human needs, understanding what people want. The program that I'm in now doesn't just focus on digital design, but also physical design and design for social impact." The latter is most important to her, she said, as it allows her to utilize her undergraduate studies in thinking critically about design theory and application.
 
Uche's path to her current studies is a bit more straightforward. At Brown, she acted as a student researcher at a local hospital, which gave her a great deal of insight into the current state of maternal-focused healthcare. "I took that experience and found my passion," she said.
 
Now, she splits her studies at UC Berkeley with practical work at UC San Francisco, researching fetal and infant diseases. Additionally, she has been able to witness the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the maternal field firsthand. "It's taken a huge toll on both providers and patients," she explained. "There's a decrease in access to hospital systems because of it. People feel unsafe going to the hospital to give birth or get treatments done." In this regard, she said, COVID has merely shed light on symptoms of pre-existing core issues within the medical system.
 
"Hopefully, I'll have much more experience within that realm in the next few years and be able to truly understand the underlying problems," she finished.
 
At first glance, design and public health seem to have nothing in common, but both Uche and Renelus carry similar hopes of making a difference in marginalized communities through their work.
 
"I've learned so many things about the financial system and the institutional racism that impacts women of color in the hospital system and beyond," Uche said. "Weathering and chronic stress really impacts these women's health and is passed down through generations. I'm learning about the support systems and programs that have arisen because of these issues – the Bay Area has been doing great things for maternal and child health disparities, such as the increase in doula programs and prenatal screening access for underprivileged mothers.
 
"I don't think these organizations get enough spotlight," she continued. "That's why I'm researching the impact that they're having so that we can uplift them and their efforts."
 
For her part, Renelus knows that she also needs to keep learning about the field in order to make an impact. She specified an interest in neuroaesthetics, specifically the potential of product appearances to help or heal viewers.
 
"I want to research how that can be leveraged to help people or communities who are going through different and difficult things, to figure out how design can be more accessible," explained Renelus. "In the end, I want to bring joy to people."
 
Despite the countless difficulties presented by a new environment and a jam-packed schedule, both Renelus and Uche emphasized that the support systems established at Cal have played a vital role in the two's success at school and on the track.
 
"(We're) surrounded by amazing scholars, the best mentors, good supportive people," Uche said. "It makes this transition so much easier."