CCS’ James was born to perform

The redshirt year is as ingrained into college athletics as shirtless, body-painted frat boys on football Saturdays, the home-court advantage, kidnapping the rival school’s mascot and lack of institutional control.

Five years to play four is the rule – the extra year available to rehabilitate an injury, maybe deal with a personal issue, bulk up in the weight room – or in the classroom.

Or, in the case of Chanel James, risk getting snarked on by Simon Cowell.

That’s right. She wasn’t an injury redshirt – she was an “American Idol” redshirt, presumably the first in history.

As it turned out, she came up short of becoming the next Carrie Underwood, at least for the moment. And now her run as the fastest, fiercest thing on the athletic stage at the Community Colleges of Spokane – Falls Idol? Sasquatch Got Talent? – is coming to a close, as well. The Sasquatch host the NWAACC track and field meet Monday and Tuesday at Spokane Falls, James’ last mad dash for titles, trophies and records.

“I’m proud of what I’ve done here,” she said, “and now I need to go on and do other things.”

That need will take her to Washington State next fall – where her father, Michel, caught passes and high jumped 7 feet for the Cougars, and her intended destination all along after graduating from Tacoma’s Wilson High School. When some academic hiccups detoured her to CCS, she at first seemed of a mind to make it last no longer than it takes her to cover 100 meters. Now she makes it sound as if three years here, give or take a quarter, was just about right.

“Some people come to school and they don’t grow up,” James said. “They go back home and drop out, get homesick. It’s hard, I know. School is a struggle for me. But in the long run, you do things you never expect and it’s so rewarding. If I hadn’t come here, I wouldn’t really be getting what I want out of life.”

She’s given a fair amount back, too.

The Sasquatch haven’t had a track athlete of her distinction in a decade, and on the women’s side maybe ever. Not a month into her first spring she’d broken the school record for the 100. Last week she topped the NWAACC triple jump standard, on her first try in two years. A break of good weather this week and she’d be capable of school and conference records in the 100, 200, long and triple jumps, and she has enough help to do it in the short relay, as well.

“She’s such a huge fish in a little pond,” acknowledged CCS coach Larry Beatty, “that she does everything with little challenge. But she’s made a lot of strides in her work and approach, too. She sees the big picture in a way she never did before.”

That could have been what nudged her into the “Idol” audition.

James’ passion for performing is every bit as strong as her need for speed. She won a Tacoma Idol competition in 2006, and finished second in the Washington event. She auditioned for “Idol’s” sixth season that year but didn’t make it past the cattle call. Two summers ago she got the itch again, flew to Phoenix with her mother, Rebecca, and this time was asked back – contestant No. 38340, wannabe country star.

Yes, country.

“I know, right?” she laughed. “I’m African-American. Down there, Simon actually asked me, ‘Why don’t you try singing R&B?’ Why, because I’m black?

“It’s like track – if you don’t love it, you can’t do it. My family on my mom’s side is from Oregon and they all love country and I remember when I was 13 or 14 I called my grandma and said, ‘I love country!’ and she goes, ‘Yessss!’ ”

So she threw a little Faith Hill at them, and there’s a Sugarland song she likes – the lyric “happiness is something we create” seems to speak to her drive. She covers some Carrie and some Miranda Lambert to fulfill country’s cheatin’ and beatin’ quotas. And though she was well received by Simon and Randy and the rest, in the end it was, “Try again next time.”

“I cried,” she confessed. “It sucks when you leave – they have cameras on you and if you say something negative, they put you on TV, but that’s not me. It’s a bump in the road. And if it hadn’t happened, I wouldn’t be going on to do something else I love.

“I’m so excited for next year because I won’t be the top runner anymore. It’s going to be different and difficult, and it’ll probably be the toughest two years of my life as far as working and trying to be the best I can be. And I can’t think of anything I want more right now.”