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The Day College Track and Field Shut Down - NCAA Division 1

Published by
DyeStat.com   May 30th 2020, 9:39am
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In Albuquerque, Division 1 Athletes Were So Close To Realizing Their Dreams, Yet So Far From Reaching Championship Goals

By Erik Boal, DyeStat Editor

So close.

If there are two words that still resonate with Long Beach State senior jumper Jason Smith more than 11 weeks after the NCAA’s decision to cancel the Division 1 Indoor Track and Field Championships, along with the entire spring outdoor schedule as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic, they are the ones that became a hashtag printed on yellow tape on his arm and chest March 12 in Albuquerque, N.M.

“It was tragic. I couldn’t think of anything like that ever happening, it was overwhelming,” Smith shared with Long Beach State Assistant Athletic Director of Athletic Communications Roger Kirk upon his return to California.

“Just coming so close and not being able to see it through was such a tease.”

Smith had become the first student-athlete in program history to qualify for two events at the Division 1 Indoor Championships. Earlier this week, he was recognized as an All-American in both the high jump and long jump by the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association.

But Smith, who was in the same arena Feb. 14 when he placed fourth in the long jump competing against professional athletes at the Toyota USATF Indoor Championships, had much bigger aspirations in his return to the Albuquerque Convention Center.

“You could feel the intensity in the building, everyone was in the zone, trying to prep their mentality for competition, and I was doing the same thing. I was going in there to win,” Smith said. “Everyone came all this way, we’re all here, and we can’t do what we came here to do. It was deflating. Some people were really upset, angry, while others were just totally down and crying. I was really emotional, too. I’d been so engaged on one thing and so it took me a while to process.”

Smith, like so many elite performers scheduled to compete in New Mexico, would have also been attempting to qualify for the national outdoor final this weekend at the Division 1 West Regionals at the University of Kansas. The East Regionals were scheduled to be held at the University of Kentucky.

But all those dreams have been deferred, if not completely diminished for some of the world’s most talented young track and field athletes in the aftermath of all three NCAA indoor championship meets being canceled, the first time that had happened since the Division 2 indoor final wasn’t contested in 1986.

Student-athletes have spent their time in quarantine, observing stay-at-home orders for more than two months, still contemplating how goals for a whole season or aspirations for an entire career could disappear in the mere moments it took to read a post by the NCAA on social media, or in the few agonizing minutes it took to listen to the trackside instructions delivered by the public address announcer that not only was the meet being shut down, but the arena needed to be vacated.

“It’s crazy to know that literally half, or almost your whole life, you’ve been training for something and it can just disappear within a matter of seconds,” North Carolina A&T freshman sprinter Randolph Ross said. “It was heartbreaking for half the team, because for half of them, that was their last indoor season. I just remember seeing the faces of all the seniors and just losing the opportunity that was right before us.”

Less than an hour after the decision was made, the Albuquerque Convention Center was empty except for a few site coordinators and maintenance workers. But the work that was being done to manage emotions and arrange travel plans at hotels, malls and restaurants throughout the city was only beginning for hundreds of student-athletes, coaches and administrators.

“That was super devastating and heartbreaking,” Kansas State senior multi-event athlete Lauren Taubert said. “I think it was just shocking, knowing that we were less than 24 hours away from competing, and all of this was just gone, all of the sudden.”

frankl

A tough pill to swallow

For a venue that hosts college or high school meets almost every weekend during the indoor season, in addition to an arena that has showcased three of the past four Toyota USATF Indoor Championships, the Albuquerque Convention Center hadn’t been the site of the Division 1 Indoor Championships since 2014.

With reigning NCAA cross country champion and 10,000-meter outdoor winner Weini Kelati scheduled to compete in both the 3,000 and 5,000 meters during the two-day meet, along with New Mexico being represented by senior Emily Martin in the 5,000 and a team competing in the distance medley relay, the Lobos were primed to perform well on their home track against some of the most talented women’s runners in Division 1 history.

With Fayetteville, Ark., and Birmingham, Ala., designated as sites of the Division 1 indoor championship meet the next two seasons, New Mexico coach Joe Franklin hopes it won’t be another six years until the event returns to New Mexico.

“It’s tough, especially when you, when the kids have so few opportunities to compete at home on the national level,” Franklin said. “For our kids, it was just tough, because you had (Martin) that was a senior that this was her last chance and she had worked really hard to get to that point. Then, Weini and the relays, so you had a lot of women that had a chance to run at home.”

Although she was representing Georgia in her first NCAA championship meet, freshman multi-event talent Anna Hall was a veteran of competing at 5,300 feet of elevation in Albuquerque, setting the national high school record in the heptathlon in 2018 at the Great Southwest Classic.

Hall had also competed at Albuquerque Convention Center at both the Toyota USATF Indoor Championships and Great Southwest indoor meet during her high school career, representing both Valor Christian and FK Elite from Colorado.

Although she and her Georgia teammates had spent nearly a week in New Mexico prior to the meet in an effort to adjust to the altitude, Hall’s return to competition in Albuquerque never materialized, as the young Bulldogs would be forced to wait another year to challenge for national supremacy.

“That was really hard to process for everybody that was there because we had already been in Albuquerque for four or five days practicing and getting ready and focusing on the meet,” Hall said. “The day before the meet, we went back to the hotel, and we started hearing no spectators, then no family either, and then that it’s outright canceled. It was kind of mind-boggling.”

As seemingly every professional sports league halted operations, in addition to New Balance Nationals Indoor being canceled in New York, individual schools and eventually entire conferences decided to withdraw from competition in New Mexico.

But for those who were already in Albuquerque on the eve of competition, like Georgia, the immediate shock of having an NCAA championship event taken away was only magnified by the additional disappointment of losing out on the outdoor season as well.

“Processing nationals was a tough pill to swallow because I think our team was really ready to have a good showing and I think we had a lot of people who were ready to surprise a lot of people in their events,” Hall said. “I don’t think swallowing the pill that we weren’t going to have an outdoor season came until later. I don’t think anybody really processed that right away because I think we were just focused on the fact that we didn’t get to compete while we were there.

“I do think it was a good reminder for me that you don’t get to take track for granted. Even though I was enjoying my time, I definitely think I kind of lost sight of the fact that any meet could be my last meet, and that it’s a privilege every single time I get to step out there and represent Georgia and not to take that lightly.”

‘Our last college meet ever’

The text message Colorado coach Mark Wetmore sent to his student-athletes March 12 consisted of one word, but sparked a multitude of emotions.

“Canceled.”

Dani Jones was receiving treatment from one of the school’s athletic trainers when she looked at her phone and then had to process the harsh reality that she and fellow fifth-year seniors Makena Morley and Joe Klecker would never have the opportunity to race for the Buffaloes again.

“It was disappointing for everybody in different ways and I certainly had a tough time at first,” said Jones, who had planned on pursuing a demanding double of racing both the mile and 800 meters.

“There were girls that were going to run the DMR who had never been All-Americans before who literally just had to finish the race to get their first All-American status, and me, Joe and Makena, it was our last college meet ever.”

Although Klecker made his way to a local mall to purchase food as a way of coping with the conclusion of his collegiate career, Jones and Morley returned to the team hotel and remained in their rooms for extended periods, avoiding conversation because they knew any interaction would only intensify the raw emotions they were experiencing.

“When I heard the official news that the indoor meet was canceled but that the entire season of outdoor track was also canceled, I was in shock,” Morley said. “I cried later in the day, but at the beginning, I just sat in my hotel room and stared at the message for a while trying to wrap my head around the fact that my last college season running for CU was done.

“I am so thankful that my teammates Joe Klecker, Dani Jones, Rachel McArthur, Annie Hill and Val Welch were also in Albuquerque dealing with similar feelings and emotions, which made the entire experience easier to handle and wrap my head around.”

The Colorado athletes and coaches eventually composed themselves and made their way to a pasta dinner later that night. Wetmore knew the decision to cancel the meet was the right one, but he also understood and supported the anger and frustration expressed by his athletes over not only missed opportunities, but potential that would never be realized.

“It’s one thing to try and swallow your own disappointments, but having to look around at people you know have worked really hard for something, it certainly didn’t make it easier by any means,” Jones said. “It was really strange then and we’re still doing that now. There are times where Makena comes over to my house and she’s upset about circumstances and I have to say, ‘We’re going to be OK, this is just some weird timing,’ and then vice versa, where I’m the one who gets upset and Makena has to do that for me.

“The best thing you can do is just be there for people and I do think in those tough moments that I’ve come out a better athlete and with a better perspective, so I just have to be hopeful about that.”

Morley and Klecker were both scheduled to run the 3,000 and 5,000, looking to add to their legacies with more All-America honors. Instead, they were left to reminisce about their final collegiate races a month earlier, both competing in the 5,000 in Boston and Seattle, respectively.

“Coming back to Boulder was when the whole situation really set in. And it is still hard when I think a lot about not running or competing in college anymore,” Morley said. “March 12th was a very sad and somewhat unreal day for college athletes as a whole, and especially for those of us competing at the NCAA championship.”

‘I couldn’t smile that one out’

As surreal as the news was to process when it was made public by the NCAA before 3 p.m. local time, even more challenging for everyone involved were the team meetings that took place during the rest of the afternoon and evening, either at the Albuquerque Convention Center, or in hotel rooms and lobbies throughout the city.

“That team meeting that night, it wasn’t the most fun meeting we’ve had. It was really sad because we all knew there was so much potential for us to actually be part of that top three, and we knew what we had to do and it was going to be difficult, but I just remember that everyone felt sad,” said Kentucky senior high jumper Ellen Ekholm, who has since returned home to her native Sweden.

“Our team is very loud and filled with so much joy and happiness all the time, so that meeting was just weird. We understand what happened, but it’s still hard to take it in and actually be OK with it.”

Ekholm was the centerpiece of one of the most anticipated competitions of the meet, with she and fellow Southeastern Conference stars Abby O’Donoghue of LSU, Tyra Gittens of Texas A&M and Hall of Georgia the top four entries in the women’s high jump.

In addition to challenging for the individual title, O’Donoghue was also hoping to produce significant points for top-ranked LSU in its pursuit of the program’s first women’s indoor national title since 2004, along with the first under head coach Dennis Shaver.

O’Donoghue was also hoping to follow her mother, the former Kelli Flynn, who was a member of a combined seven indoor and outdoor national championship teams for the Tigers from 1991-94.

“I really thought with the women going in ranked No. 1, that I was going to do what my mom did and win a national championship. I had full faith in our team because we had worked really hard all season,” O’Donoghue said. “That was really hard. I remember coach (Shaver) telling us in the team room and I just don’t think it’s something that I’m ever going to forget. I just really felt like the LSU women had it this year. That’s why I’m still so motivated to do my best (next year) because it was taken away from me and I’ll never get it back.”

Pat Henry was the architect of an LSU dynasty that won 11 women’s indoor national championships and 13 outdoor crowns from 1987-2004, before taking over as head coach of the Texas A&M program in 2005, adding another four women’s titles during his tenure with the Aggies.

But even Henry’s four decades of coaching experience didn’t make the task of communicating the discouraging details to his student-athletes any less daunting.

“When coach Henry came over and he gave us the news, my heart broke,” Gittens said. “I almost cried just watching him, because he puts so much effort and love into everything that he does. You could feel the hurt in everybody, they didn’t even have to say anything, you could just feel it. The bus ride back to the hotel was just dreadful. Nobody was on their phone and everybody was just looking out the window.

“In tough situations, I tend to kind of smile it out, but I couldn’t smile that one out.”

Eerie kind of feeling

Samantha Noennig entered the meet as the reigning Division 1 indoor and outdoor women’s shot put champion.

Unfortunately, despite representing Arizona State at the Toyota USATF Indoor Championships a month earlier in New Mexico, Noennig didn’t get to compete for the Sun Devils one last time in Albuquerque, as she made the decision during the spring to transfer to rival Arizona as a graduate student-athlete to pursue her Master’s degree in public health.

Noennig got her practice in earlier in the day at the arena, already aware that student-athletes from Harvard weren’t being allowed to travel to the meet, and hearing rumors that other schools might be following suit.

But it wasn’t until she was back at the team hotel that she learned about how quickly details surrounding the event had escalated, with Arizona State deciding to withdraw all of its athletes from the competition, before the final decision was reached to cancel not just the meet in Albuquerque, but every NCAA winter postseason and championship event across the country.

“We kind of knew it was coming because a couple of the other conferences had already pulled out, but the whole hotel was kind of like a funeral. It was an eerie kind of feeling surrounding everyone,” Noennig said. “Heartbreaking is definitely the word I would use for that one. It was a rough day. To get cut short so close to that meet it was so hard. It was probably one of the worst days I’ve ever experienced.”

It didn’t take long for Noennig to return to Arizona. A similar urgency was also present for the members of Pac-12 rivals Oregon and Stanford, who wasted little time booking return flights home upon learning of the cancellation.

“We were trying to stay in the headspace that we’re still going to compete and we’re still on and that it’s not over until it’s over,” Oregon senior long jumper Rhesa Foster said. “I think they announced it was canceled maybe like 15 minutes after we had arrived at the track. We started warming up and there was barely anybody there and we were just like, ‘This isn’t happening. It just doesn’t really feel right.’

“When we went back to the hotel, they started booking flights out, and we just hung out in the team room. Everyone was quiet and we were like, ‘Wow, this is really happening,’ and we just flew back home from there. I didn’t get home until 3 or 4 in the morning because we had to catch a flight and then drive back home from Portland to Eugene. It was a really hard day. It was a long day.”

Stanford had already completed its pre-meet workout when learning of the cancellation. Although members of the Cardinal program pondered what their futures would hold, they were required to do so at the airport and on a flight, as coaches and student-athletes were back on campus in Palo Alto later that night.

“The day that we got all those announcements that indoor was canceled, outdoor was canceled, everything was canceled, people kept saying, ‘Well, they’re going to give you another year.’ At the time, that really didn’t feel like a consolation,” Stanford fifth-year senior distance runner Ella Donaghu said. “I wanted to run this spring. I wasn’t planning on staying another year. I wanted to do it in a month, not one year. To be honest, I feel like now I’ve sort of accepted losing that season.”

byu

One last run along the Rio Grande

Following one of the most memorable cross country seasons in program history, with the men’s team capturing a national championship and the women’s squad placing second in Terre Haute, Ind., Brigham Young was seeking another pair of podium finishes in Albuquerque.

Instead of raising more trophies, BYU coaches Ed Eyestone and Diljeet Taylor were left trying to uplift several veterans who were denied the chance at achieving history once again.

In addition to being the fastest entry in the women’s 3,000 meters, junior Whittni Orton was also expected to anchor the Cougars’ distance medley relay, a quartet that had run 10:53.95 for the No. 7 time in NCAA history – including the fastest performance ever on an oversized track – to secure the top seed in pursuit of a championship that barely eluded BYU last year following a runner-up finish.

“This year I was all in on the DMR and I was really wanting to do that,” said Orton, who was scheduled to run with Anna Camp-Bennett, Alena Ellsworth and Lauren Ellsworth-Barnes.

“It was going to be extra special to do it with Anna. We’ve been by each other’s side through our whole college running experience and I’ve seen her at her low and she’s seen me (as well), so for us to both be there on the same team, and both be in amazing shape and be ready and excited to really try and win something was really special. It was definitely very hard not to do that with them.”

In one of the most emotional moments that took place on the infield of the track in the aftermath of the meet’s cancellation, Taylor huddled her athletes as they all fought back tears and reminded them that their dreams were not over, just put on hold. Those words have served as inspiration and motivation for Orton and her teammates throughout the spring, and hope to be meaningful reminders for the Cougars during the 2020-21 school year.

“Looking back, you can’t be upset about it because we really did everything we could do. We ran hard and we got in great shape, but sometimes, stuff just happens. There are just trials you have to go through,” said Orton, who achieved top 15 times in NCAA indoor history in the mile, 3,000 and 5,000, all within a 10-week stretch.

“But I’ve still got to be proud and grateful for what I’ve been able to do.”

Weeks removed from not being able to watch Michael Bluth, Talem Franco, Jacob Heslington, Matt Owens and Colten Yardley compete in several distance events at the indoor final, Eyestone was still emotional when he shared with the school’s TV station his immense pride about how several athletes responded to the announcement by completing an afternoon run along the Rio Grande River.

“What do you do to handle the disappointment of the NCAA meet being canceled when you’ve worked all year and all of your athletic lifetime to get there and become an All-American? Talem Franco got in his uniform, put on his BYU singlet and shorts that he was going to compete in, and he went with his three teammates and they went out and went on a 12-mile run out along the Rio Grande River,” Eyestone said. “I told them, ‘I was proud of you men because you are making the best of a really tough situation.’ That was awesome.”

Following a year in which BYU set an NCAA record by qualifying six athletes for the Division 1 men’s 10,000-meter final in Austin, Texas, in addition to capturing the program’s first national cross country championship in November, Eyestone said what Franco and his teammates accomplished was another profound moment for the Cougars.

“Wherever there’s a playground, wherever there’s a grass field, wherever there’s a straight road for guys to run on, they’re going to be able to go out and do those things to get them through,” Eyestone said. “Even though it may not be organized in the NCAA fashion, it will be there because that’s what keeps us going.”

‘The carpet was kind of ripped out from under us’

What kept Northern Arizona going throughout the winter season were the painful memories of falling short of a potential fourth consecutive Division 1 men’s cross country title when BYU snapped the Lumberjacks’ championship streak at the Lavern Gibson Championship course in Terre Haute.

But with fifth-year senior Tyler Day returning to Northern Arizona’s lineup after not competing in the fall due to previously exhausting his cross country eligibility, the Lumberjacks enjoyed an exceptional season, qualifying seven individuals in their pursuit of winning a national indoor title with only distance runners.

Geordie Beamish returned as the defending mile champion for Northern Arizona, with Blaise Ferro, Luis Grijalva, Abdihamid Nur, Ryan Raff and Theo Quax also joining Day, who set the American collegiate record in the 5,000 by running 13:16.95 in January in Boston.

The performance was a big reason why Day, who also ran 7:45.70 in the 3,000, was selected Division 1 men’s track athlete of the year by USTFCCCA.

“These awards mean a great deal to obviously coach and I, and there is definitely a village behind these awards more than just what our names bear. But we really wanted to prove that we could back up these awards, essentially,” Day told the Big Sky Conference upon learning of the honor.

“I think in the end, we definitely wanted a chance to prove to people that we can, as a non-Power Five school, kick some butt on the biggest stage. This was a very important year for us and a lot of the cards fell in perfect alignment, and at the last second, the carpet was kind of ripped out from under us.”

Although Mike Smith has guided Northern Arizona to two of its three men’s cross country national titles, the USTFCCCA national coach of the year knew how unique the opportunity was for the Lumberjacks to make history on the track, especially with the veteran Day leading the way.

“The awards, just like the results, should be the byproducts of an effort and these were tough ones, I think, for us to get because they didn’t have the single moments that we’d been training for,” Smith said. “While it’s nice to be honored in this way, I’d trade this over and over again for us to get the finish this time.”

Although North Carolina A&T wasn’t expected to challenge for the men’s team championship, the Historically Black University was another non-Power Five school expected to perform well at the meet, especially on the 4x400 relay, with the Aggies relying heavily on senior Trevor Stewart and freshman Randolph Ross to challenge Texas A&M, Arkansas and Iowa for the title.

“To this moment, even today, it’s still painful for me to even think about that moment (when everything was canceled),” North Carolina A&T coach Duane Ross said. “We were on the track getting ready, and you can always look back and say ‘what if’ but that group was ready to go.

“It’s a reminder that we need to maximize every opportunity that we have in this lifetime, not just in track, but with every decision we make. Tomorrow is not promised to you and when you get on the track and it’s your time, make it count.”

Moments of reflection

Some of the most significant and powerful sentiments weren’t spoken in Albuquerque, but rather written on social media, with several NCAA champions posting on Instagram and Twitter heartfelt messages to teammates and coaches as they were forced to come to terms with the end of their seasons, or in many cases, their collegiate careers.

Washington senior pole vaulter Olivia Gruver, the collegiate outdoor record holder, was looking to add the indoor record in her final NCAA meet after placing third behind the past two World Indoor gold medalists Sandi Morris and Jenn Suhr at the Toyota USATF Indoor Championships.

After capturing two Division 1 outdoor titles at Kentucky, Gruver’s pursuit of indoor history never got off the ground in her return to the Albuquerque runway, with Washington joining several other schools in withdrawing all athletes from the competition before the NCAA reached its decision to call off the meet.

“I have this weird feeling due to lack of closure of not having the NCAA championship meet and my heart goes out to everyone that is affected by the decision the NCAA made,” Gruver wrote on Instagram.

“I’ve had the best time in college, finding some of my best friends and working with the best coaches out there. I really can’t thank the people who have supported me enough, you guys have gotten me through the worst of days and been there for my best days, never giving up on me.

“Of course, I would’ve loved another chance to break the indoor record, but I’m proud of everything else I did this season. The record would’ve just been the icing on the cake.”

South Dakota senior Chris Nilsen had set the collegiate indoor pole vault record Feb. 21 and was seeking a fourth career Division 1 championship after securing the gold medal in August at the Pan American Games in Peru.

Nilsen’s bid to bookend his indoor career with another title after capturing his first crown as a freshman in 2017 didn’t have a storybook ending.

“Myself and a lot of other seniors’ seasons were cut short, and not on the terms we would’ve liked. As much as it hurts to not compete at what would’ve been my last run at nationals, I understand and agree with the decisions made by the governing bodies concerning athletics. We will all move forward and things will work out as they always do,” Nilsen posted on Instagram.

“Although these past four years have been some of the best in my life, I can’t say it came without some hardships. However those hardships have molded me into the person I am today, and for that I am forever grateful. The people I have met, on and off the track have become my greatest friends, mentors, and family that I hope to have in my life for the rest of my life.”

Wisconsin senior Oliver Hoare, the 2018 Division 1 outdoor 1,500-meter champion, not only had his collegiate career reach an abrupt and premature conclusion before he could contend for an indoor mile title, but also had his dream of representing Australia in the Olympics delayed until next year.

Wisconsin was the only school that didn’t support the March 30 decision made by the NCAA Division 1 Council to provide eligibility relief for seniors competing in spring sports, informing those student-athletes April 9 they either needed to complete their academic requirements and graduate or transfer to another university.

“All athletes in college and at the NCAA indoor champs had to deal with their own situations of heartbreak and disappointment in what had occurred,” Hoare said.

“The hard work and difficulty to reach the height they had to do with no rewards was a tough pill to swallow. Athletes try to prepare and structure out every possible situation they can to get the edge. No one could really predict the curveball that has been thrown by this health crisis.

“How we respond to situations like this is what makes you a great person and a great athlete. To take what you get in opportunities and to use situations like this to grow and respond to them accordingly.”

After Katie Izzo’s performance at the Division 1 final in November helped Arkansas complete the triple crown of indoor track and field, outdoor track and field, plus cross country national team titles in the same calendar year, she didn’t get an opportunity to chase a 5,000 championship in Albuquerque after posting the fastest entry time with her 15:13.09 in December in Boston.

But unlike Gruver, Nilsen and Hoare, Izzo is scheduled to return next year for the Razorbacks.

“We are all experiencing the devastating effects of the disease, and it has been heartbreaking for us athletes who work so hard everyday to have this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity taken away,” Izzo composed on Instagram.

“But we can't forget to be grateful for all that we do have...being alive, our health, family, friends, the little things in life that make us smile. For us runners, let us be grateful for a sport that has brought us the most amazing friendships, opportunities, and experiences. I’m not done chasing my dreams...and I know the best is yet to come.”

ksmith

Look at the bigger picture

Smith wasn’t the only standout from Southern California who was left with an empty feeling upon returning home to a vacant track and deserted campus, as student-athletes were transitioning to online learning instead of outdoor competition.

USC had waited nine months for another opportunity to challenge for a women’s national team championship after a dropped baton in the 4x400 relay at last year’s outdoor final cost the Trojans back-to-back titles.

Once senior Anna Cockrell learned the NCAA Division 1 Council would provide an extra season of outdoor eligibility in 2021 for she and her teammates, it didn’t take long for the reigning 400 hurdles national champion to set her sights on a new target.

“Redemption will have to wait just a little bit longer,” Cockrell said.

Although USC didn’t have a chance to contend for its first indoor title in Albuquerque, the Trojans are expected to return reigning 60-meter national champion Twanisha “Tee Tee” Terry and two-time outdoor 200 winner Angie Annelus, in addition to a deep sprint and hurdle corps that will be supported by the arrival of highly touted freshmen Morgan Smalls, Jasmine Jones, Kimberly Harris and Markalah Hart.

“We definitely do have unfinished business and we’re all looking forward to coming back and being together because the team is going to be even bigger than before, considering we’re going to have the returning seniors and the incoming freshmen,” Terry said. “As long as everybody does what they need to do and the freshmen can make a smooth transition, then we can be on top.”

And USC might not be the only program representing the Golden State that climbs to the top of the national podium next year, with UCLA returning sprinter Shae Anderson and Smith having two seasons of outdoor eligibility available at Long Beach State since he was forced to redshirt because of an injury last year after advancing to the outdoor long jump final in 2018.

Although Smith knows what it means to be “so close” he doesn’t want to experience being this far away from the sport he loves ever again.

“Me and my coach (LaTanya Sheffield), we had a goal and that was to make the Bowerman Watch List and to show the world who Jason Smith is and make them say my name,” Smith said. “The way I saw it, this was my last shot at the indoor championship, so I wanted to soak it all in, document it, take in the moment. I was so close, but you have to look at the bigger picture.”



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