Hasay has strong showing at Worlds

Jordan Hasay has another strong showing on international stage, finishing fourth at world championships
The 16-year-old finishes fourth at the 19-and-under World Junior Championships
By Erick Smith
San Luis Obispo Tribune

Monday July 14, 2008
Jordan Hasay, seen at the U. S. Olympic Track and Field Trials, finished fourth Sunday at the World Youth Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland.

It’s hard to imagine Jordan Hasay throwing elbows into the sides of her larger competitors but it’s that type of aggression which the star runner has been working on.

Over the past two weeks, Hasay has received a crash course in running with some older, larger and more experienced racers.

She had an outstanding showing at the U. S. Olympic Track and Field Trials in Eugene, Ore. Hasay demonstrated she is more than capable of holding her own against collegiate and professional athletes as a soon-to- be senior at Mission Prep.

Fast-forwarding a week and about 7,000 miles found Hasay competing in the 1,500-meter finals Sunday at the World Junior Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland. Running against the top 19-and-under runners from around the world, Hasay finished fourth with a time of 4 minutes, 19.02 seconds, which she said was the fastest time ever posted by an American runner at the event.

“I tried to throw an elbow to get a girl out of my way but she just cut me off,” Hasay said with a slight laugh during a phone interview while discussing some of the improvements in her race tactics. “I’m working on being more aggressive but it’s hard for me because I’m one of the younger ones and one of the smaller ones.

“These meets help me to practice tactics, that’s why I do these meets, it’s to prepare. Once you get to the Olympics, people will be tough.”

The 16-year-old, who can occasionally disappear from sight when running in the middle of the pack, proved, as she did at the trials, that she can hang with some of her older peers. Hasay finished nearly four seconds off the lead and two seconds out of third place.

Hasay stuck with her plan of holding back and fighting the temptation to jump out near the front. She wanted to make her kick be the difference and it almost worked.

Hasay stayed away from the lead early, but after a slow first two laps she was stuck in the middle of the pack in the 12-runner field. So, instead of making a move with 500 meters remaining, she waited.

“The last 300 meters I was in sixth or seventh place and then I kicked it in to get in the top three. With 150 meters to go, they broke way and I just tried to finish strong.

“I think I ran a good race in terms of tactics. I started to pass people but I couldn’t get the top girls at end.”

The leaders Hasay couldn’t catch were Stephanie Twell and Emma Pallat from Great Britain, and Kalkidan Gezahegne from Ethiopia. Twell won with a time of 4:15.09, Gezahegne (4:16.58) was second and Pallant (4:17.06) grabbed the last medal spot.

“I thought the Ethiopian would take it out fast but we ended up going really slow be-cause I think nobody wanted to take the lead,” Hasay said. “That’s a good thing for me because I’ve been more confident in my kick this year. Looking back at it, I should have pushed a little earlier because I didn’t have as good of a kick as the top three.”

Alex Kosinski, the other American runner in the field, finished sixth with a time of 4:21.26.

Hasay’s previous taste of international competition came last year when she finished second (4:17.24) in the 1,500 at the World Youth Championships, which is a race for runners ages 15 to 17.

Because she is only 16, Hasay will have another opportunity to run for gold and to wear her red, white and blue jersey at the 2010 World Junior Championships. That gives her two more years of building upon the experience she gained over a very busy and successful past two weeks.

“It changed my mindset,” Hasay said. “It gave me prospective to see where I’m at. Coming (to Poland) and racing internationally, I learned racing tactics like how to adapt to jet lag. I wouldn’t change what I did, going to the trials and to this meet. I think it was a good decision and I’m happy with how things played out.”

 

Ask the Editor: Reader not happy over Jordan Hasay story
Tribune report was meant to reflect coach’s comments about difficulty of her task
By Tad Weber
San Luis Obispo Tribune

Monday July 14, 2008

PHOTO BY MARK YLEN
Jordan Hasay runs in the Olympic trials.

Q: I was disappointed in the unfortunate choice of words referring to the “expected end” of Jordan Hasay’s run for the Olympics. What a disdainful way to refer to the highest point of an athlete’s career, no matter what age ... And to mark it in the headline: “Hasay’s improbable Olympic bid ... sure been fun.” Did it occur to you that Jordan will reread that for years in her scrapbook?

—Gail Verver

A: It certainly was not our intention to slight Jordan’s remarkable performances at the U. S. Olympic Track and Field Trials earlier this month. The story and headline reflected what Jordan’s coach told our reporter in a previous story — that he did not hold any illusion she would reach the Olympic qualifying time because never before had she run so many high-pressure races back to back.

There is keen interest in Jordan, and it goes beyond our local area. Whenever we publish a story about her on our Web site, sanluisobispo.com, it inevitably is one of the most-read stories for that day, helped in part by national sports Web sites that link to our site.

Excluding the headline and story the reader cites, our coverage of Jordan’s career has been almost entirely focused on her remarkable achievements. (The only exceptions would be several stories over the years when she has gotten an injury.) I think most readers would find our coverage has been positive.

The question does let me address the broader issue of coverage of athletics.

At times, we have been taken to task by readers when we have shown an athlete at a vulnerable moment. Last year, for example, we published a photo of a Cal Poly football player crying on the bench after a particularly tough loss. Here was this big, strong young man breaking into tears — a very powerful photograph that spoke volumes about the impact of the loss Cal Poly had just taken.

Some readers thought we intruded too much into that player’s privacy, even though he was sitting on the team bench in Spanos Stadium. Interestingly, that football player did not complain. The athletes understand they perform in the public arena.

Now when it comes to poor performances or questionable game decisions, it would be true that we ask our hardest questions of Cal Poly coaches and athletes. They represent the “big time” sports in our county and a lot of time, effort and money goes into their programs. We think they can handle the tough questions.

However, we are mindful that the high school teams can still have very young people in starring roles (students as young as 15 in some cases) and often have volunteer coaches who are trying their best with limited resources. For that reason, our prep coverage generally celebrates strong individual efforts or team victories. Every Tuesday, for example, we pick a student athlete of the week and profile that person. Those features will resume in September once the new school year begins.

We are about a month away from one of my favorite times of year—the resumption of football and the fall sports season. Our sports staff will be gearing up to cover the action. I’ll be reading our sports section along with you, and I welcome your questions and suggestions. You can e-mail me at tweber@ thetribunenews.com or call 781-7906.