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By Kent Larsen
LDS Woman Leads Jump Over Track's Last Gender Hurdle
EUGENE, OREGON -- Both women and men compete in every NCAA Track and Field
event, from the 100-meter dash to the marathon, except one: the
steeplechase. That is, until now. In the NCAA championships, starting today
in Eugene, Oregon, BYU's Elizabeth Jackson is favored to lead the field and
hurdle this last gender barrier. The event is gaining popularity, and may be
added to the Athens Olympics in 2004, breaking the last Track gender barrier
there also.
Jackson's achievements as a cross-country runner and her training from BYU
coach Patrick Shane (coach of Olympic steeplechase gold medalist Henry
Marsh) make her a likely candidate to lead the field into the Olympics, if
the event is added. Jackson is the only BYU athlete, male or female, to be
named All-American in track four times. She was also given the Outstanding
Senior Female Athlete Award for her academic performance as well as her
performance on the track. And in the steeplechase, she holds the current
American record of 9:55.53, set May 18th at the Mountain West Conference
meet. "She's an all-American woman in more than one way," says Shane. He
says Jackson is an artist, musician, and dancer, as well as an athlete.
"She's just a well-rounded individual," he said.
Jackson took on the steeplechase just four years ago, as competition started
on an unofficial basis at NCAA meets. The race requires runners to run 3,000
meters, jumping a total of 35 barriers through the race, including seven
water hazards, 10.5-foot-long pools that begin three feet deep and gradually
angle up to ground level. While most athletes don't like the event, Jackson
loves it. "Right away I was like, 'I love this event,'" she told the Daily
Universe last year.
Jackson has a nimble style that she says comes from her 13 years of ballet
experience as a youth. "Hurdling is leaping over a bar, and I did that all
the time in ballet," Jackson said. "Coordination and flexibility from dance
help me accelerate through the water jump." Her coach, Shane, says that she
is simply the best, "Liz has the best water-jump technique of any woman I've
seen." Last year, he was more prosaic when he told the Daily Universe, "She
dances over the barriers and through the water. She's an artist out there,
performing."
Jackson started ballet at age 6 while growing up in Salt Lake City. By 13
she was good enough to be accepted at the San Francisco Ballet School, where
she took summer classes. But by eleventh grade, Jackson decided against
ballet because it would take her away from home. She turned to track instead.
In 1996 she won the Utah state championship in the mile, and in the process
won a scholarship to BYU, where Shane saw her potential. She has done well
at the 5,000 meters, and in the meantime, the steeplechase has become an
event for women also. Starting with the current meet, the event is scheduled
at most collegiate conference meets and in a seven-meet USA Track & Field
steeplechase tour, which will be capped by national championships June 21-24
in Eugene, Oregon.
And to Jackson this only increases the fun. She says she enjoys the
steeplechase more than other track and field events. "It's more fun to run
over something than to run only in circles."
Sources:
One Gender Wall Left Standing
New York Times 30May01 S2
By Marc Bloom
Four time All-American runner works her way to the top
BYU NewsNet 13Apr00 S2
By Haynie: NewsNet Sports Writer
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