Hasay quickly becoming future face of U. S. track

She picks up two more awards, including USA Today’s high school girls track athlete of the year

Tristan Aird

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Even on vacation, Jordan Hasay can’t escape her growing celebrity.

Hasay was waiting with her family to board a plane to Maui at the San Luis Obispo County Regional Airport on Wednesday when she noticed something unusual.

Elsewhere in the airport, someone was reading the USA Today sports section when Hasay saw a photo of herself staring back at her.

HASAY’S EXPLOITS OF THE PAST FEW MONTHS

• The 16-year-old Mission Prep junior won a stirring battle with Woodbridge High’s Christine Babcock to win the 3,200-meter run at the Arcadia Invitational.

• Became only the second girls runner in CIF state meet history to win three consecutive 3,200- meter titles by holding off Davis High’s Laurynne Chetelat by 0.18 seconds. Hasay’s time of 9 minutes, 52.13 seconds was a CIF state meet record, a junior class national record and the second-fastest time in U. S. prep history.

• Passed two runners on the final lap at the U. S. Junior National Championships (for athletes 19 and under) to win her second consecutive title in the 1,500 meters. The win qualified her for the World Junior Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland. • After she barely snuck into the women’s 1,500-meter field at the U. S. Olympic Track and Field Trials in Eugene, Ore., Hasay advanced from the first round to the semifinals. In the semifinals, Hasay finished fifth in her heat to qualify for the final and ran 4:14.50 to break Babcock’s national high school record by nearly two seconds. Hasay eventually finished 10th in the final.

• Flying straight from the U. S. Olympic Track and Field Trials to the World Junior Championships, Hasay struggled in her semifinal heat but made the final where she finished fourth behind two British runners and one from Ethiopia.

• USA Today names Hasay the girls national high school Athlete of the Year in track and field.

As Hasay soon discovered, she had just been named USA Today’s High School Track and Field Girls Athlete of the Year.

“There were a lot of people on the airplane that had the paper,” said Hasay, who had not been notified of the award. “When I stood up on the plane, people were pointing at me.”

It’s been that kind of summer for Hasay, 16, a Mission Prep senior-to-be and Arroyo Grande resident who is quickly becoming the face of U. S. track and field’s future.

“I’m really honored to be selected,” Hasay said. “It was really cool

to see my picture on the front of the sports section of USA Today.”

Additionally, Hasay’s record-breaking performance at the U. S. Olympic Track and Field Trials was voted the No. 1 performance in 2008 among 32 entries on the prep track and field Web site DyeStatCal.com earlier this month. Hasay set a national girls high school record in the 1,500-meter run July 4 at the trials in Eugene, Ore., finishing fifth in her heat in 4 minutes, 14.5 seconds. She went on to finish 10th in the final two days later.

As a result of the trials, Hasay became a national media darling practically overnight, with media outlets from the Los Angeles Times to ESPN.com and SI.com giving significant coverage to her record run. Hasay followed the trials with a fourth-place finish in 4:19.02 at the World Junior Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland, on July 13.

When asked how she regarded the national media attention, Hasay acknowledged it has been difficult to ignore.

“I think there are a lot more people that know me now,” she said. “I’ve had a lot more people in Hawaii say, ‘Did you just run at the Olympic Trials?’ ”

Though the trials might have been the highlight of her junior track season, they were hardly the only notable performance.

At the CIF State Track and Field Championships on May 31 in Norwalk, Hasay won the 3,200 title in 9:52.13—recording junior class and age 16 records, and the second-fastest time ever among high school girls.

“I think I had a really good summer,” Hasay said. “All our training paid off and I peaked well.”

USA Today’s Boys Athlete of the Year, Riverbank’s German Fernandez, set high school records in the boys 3,000-meter and two-mile runs this season, and took home arguably the best-ever 1,600- 3,200 double for state titles in May. He will run next year at Oklahoma State.

As for her college future, July 1 marked the first day college coaches could begin recruiting Hasay. Although Oregon, Stanford and UCLA are considered to be among the front-runners, she gave no hints Thursday as to where she might be leaning.

“We’re not really sure yet,” Hasay said of her college choice. “We’re just taking it slow.”

That might be the only thing Hasay takes slow. She’ll soon begin training for her final cross country season at Mission Prep in the fall.

“I took a week off last week,” Hasay said. “Now I’m just starting to get back into it.”