For Sophomore Class, it is Finally Go Time at Home

FORT COLLINS, Colo. -- This weekend feels like it is well beyond the expiration date. If it were a bottle of ranch dressing in the fridge, you most certainly would throw it out.

For the sophomores on the Colorado State track and field team, Saturday's Doug Max Invitational represents the first home meet of their career. About a year past due.

The pandemic took away their first crack at an outdoor season, and when lockdowns and self-quarantines began, the general population was very focused on what they were losing from their regular lives. But now more than a year has passed since those types of decisions have been made, and for student-athletes, the weird and bizarre of it all seems so far removed.

A long time coming? Who cares? They're just excited to compete again, especially at home.

"To be honest, it doesn't really feel like anything," Allam Bushara said. "I'm still competing, I'm still jumping, so to me, it's OK, now we're just moving outside. Last freshman year, I was just building myself up, and when I realized about COVID and we got the news, I felt it was just time for me to put my head down and grind."

Coach Brian Bedard has to check himself at times, remembering the class really is a group of freshmen when it comes to the outdoor season. They've had two indoor campaigns – really, one and a half – and this outdoor season has really been tailored down, too.

When he presented a plan to the Pandemic Preparedness Team to host home meets, he crossed his fingers. So did his team. When he broke the news the program would host three (one being a multi-event meet), there was much rejoicing.

He expects that to translate into results, too, when competition begins on the track and for field events at 10 a.m.

"A lot of getting the best performance out of athletes is helping with that comfort level and being able to perform under pressure, perform technically as they're supposed to," Bedard said. "If you're in a place that's familiar to you, that really helps in the mental battle. Anytime you have familiarity like that and it's a place where you train and practice all the time, it helps with managing emotions and comfort level and all that sort of thing to maximize their performance."

The hurt is pretty much gone, at least it is for Jordan Lanning. She also feels she's a pretty positive person at core, so she just went home to Bayfield and trained the best she could. She loves track and staying in shape, so that was easy, even if she couldn't do event-specific work for the heptathlon.

She said the rest of her class is really in the same place now. The disappointment of the past is now excitement for the future.

"I don't think it seems weird as much as it is exciting for me," she said. "I know it was weird to not have an outdoor season and not participate at the home track, so I'm just overall excited to compete at it.

"We've all just kind of talked about how we're sophomores and we still haven't had a collegiate outdoor season which is difficult. But I think it makes us more pumped and excited to get back at it."

The best part is this weekend is at home, where they all train and practice. For Bushara, it's double the excitement for him.

He competed for Fort Collins High School, so it's not just a home track meet for his first outdoor collegiate competition, it really is in his home town. And while fans may not be allowed inside Jack Christiansen Track, he's pretty positive he'll have a cheering section on hand outside the fence.

He's excited to put down actual marks at his home track, and with the success he experienced in the indoor season by setting the school indoor record for the triple jump (52-1.25), he wants to give his hometown a show.

"I'm gonna have to break that triple jump record, the outdoor record," he said, describing what would be the ideal debut for him. "Then I'm going to have to jump over 7 meters for long jump. That would be a perfect day. First time out, then be alright, cool.

"That's what a lot of people forget. It's confidence, not cockiness. I'm really confident going into it. I'm really happy with the way things are going, so I'm just stoked to jump. There's really not much else to it, I'm just excited to jump."

Lanning thought about what would be perfect for her, but she wasn't quite sure, as she had not narrowed down her events. But whatever she chooses, she's looking for PRs. She wants to come out swinging, too, as she's put her name in the top 20 of five indoor events, including the pentathlon.

The reality is, Saturday is supposed to be a great day to compete, and there's no place else they'd rather do it. Their first home outdoor meet may be a year later than expected, and the season may be shortened, but it is here. In Fort Collins.

And she'll be here to compete a lot.

"I think that is a benefit," she said. "I would almost rather have three home meets than a longer season, but a longer season and three home meets would have been nice, too."

As difficult as looking forward to see the future was at the beginning of the pandemic, the sophomore class has found it's much easier to keep looking ahead and not behind them. What they missed in both cases is just conjecture anyway.

Their first outdoor season is here. And Saturday is at home. All of which is very real.

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