College track: One last hurdle to clear
John Cassleman has senioritis, but not in the typical sense.
In fact, he wouldn’t mind a do-over of his final track season at Washington State.
Because of all the things he’d envisioned – major reconstruction of the school record in the intermediate hurdles and a Pac-10 championship among them – what he didn’t expect was a better-late-than-never rush to cling to his place among the collegiate elite.
“It’s been like caging a wild lion,” he said of his injury-hampered senior year. “It can’t fully be itself if constrained. There’s this thing I love doing and I can’t do it to the best of my ability. It really takes a toll on the mind.”
Cassleman and 29 Cougars teammates join athletes from Eastern Washington and Idaho, and other Inland Northwest competitors, in Eugene, Ore., today and Saturday for the NCAA West Regional championships, with the top five individuals in each event advancing to the national meet in Sacramento, Calif., two weeks hence.
Fifth in the 400-meter hurdles at last year’s NCAA finals, Cassleman became just the third Cougar to crack 50 seconds – and his 49.53 best is the fastest non-altitude run in school history.
“And I screwed up the steps on the last hurdle, so it was closer to a low-49,” he said. “So I’m thinking, let’s go in next year and blow the socks off the school record and set the stage for a great season – and it was set. From fall training into the winter break, I was in the best shape I’d ever been in.”
But not long after the Christmas break, a case of Achilles tendinitis flared and then grew worse, and continued to dog him into April. Then Cassleman began experiencing hamstring trouble he is convinced was related to the first injury and soon his season was in jeopardy.
He ran a flat 400 meters at the Cougar Invitational on April 21 and finally took a crack at the intermediates in the dual against Washington the next week – a move he wasn’t sure about because “I was still struggling, both mentally with my confidence and with my body, as well.”
But there was another factor that nudged him ahead.
“As far as being a captain on the team, it’s easy to make speeches and talk to guy about what to do,” he said, “but when you can’t do it yourself, who’s listening? It’s hard to have an impact when you can’t lead them into battle.”
With just two races behind him prior to the Pac-10 championships, it’s understandable that he wasn’t race sharp – and though he winnowed his season best down to 50.82, he finished fourth. Now he must contend not only with the three rivals who finished ahead of him – UCLA’s Brandon Johnson, UW’s James Frederickson and USC’s Kai Kelley – but Mountain West champ Chris Carter of BYU and a host of challengers with 50-second potential. With only five seats to Sacramento available, there’s little margin for error.
But then, at least he has this shot. In the preregionals days, Cassleman’s 50.82 would have been on the bubble of qualifying him for nationals.
“Last year, there was this excited confidence – I was on a roll, there was nothing holding me back and I was free to explode into my potential,” he said. “Now there are more things pecking at my mind. There is more urgency – do it or it’s the end of your college career.”
There is also motivation.
“Trackwire (an Internet ranking) didn’t even put me in the top 10 for nationals,” he said. “When you’re an underdog, there’s that much more incentive. I might not be at my best, but I still believe in myself.”
“Natalie Abersfeller, Larsen Agee and Cortney Zappe won events as the Community Colleges of Spokane women surged into a 37-point lead over Lane at the Northwest Athletic Association of Community Colleges championships in Gresham, Ore.
The CCS men trail Lane 93-79 despite winning two titles – by Kevin Lemieux in the discus (148 feet, 7 inches) and Deji Adebayo, who added a whopping 3 feet to his best in the long jump with a leap of 24-2 1/4.
Agee, a freshman from West Valley, slashed more than 69 seconds off the meet record in the 3,000-meter steeplechase with an 11:22.83 clocking. Abersfeller won the long jump with a lifetime best 18- 1/2 and Zappe took the shot put at 43-10 1/2.
“Whitworth multieventers Ben Spaun and Kristen Dormaier are well off the pace after the first day at the NCAA Division III championships in Oshkosh, Wis. Spaun, a junior from Wenatchee, is 12th in the decathlon with 3,341 points. Dormaier, from Hartline, Wash., is 18th in the heptathlon (2,291).