It may have been a typical practice for the everyday sprinter, but for Kalindra McFadden, Monday marked the first time she reached a full sprint in six weeks and it felt like so much more.
“I was excited,” McFadden said. “That was like a breakthrough. It was the first day that I actually felt great.”
McFadden, a promising sophomore heptathlete, pulled her left hamstring during the indoor season and has spent much of the outdoor season getting healthy.
McFadden will travel with approximately 30 teammates from both the men’s and women’s teams to the California Collegiate Challenge in Berkeley, Calif. where she plans to do the 100-meter hurdles, long jump and the 200.
“It’s definitely been frustrating for sure, but the biggest part I’ve had to overcome is just the mental aspect of it because I know I’m not out there competing every weekend, hurdling every weekend, that’s so important for the (heptathlon) just to get those races in and so it’s been struggling to watch it all, but I’ve also learned a lot,” McFadden said.
McFadden had plans to compete in the Mt. SAC Relays April 12-14, the same location where she accumulated 5,428 points last year and an NCAA automatic qualifier. She arrived at the relays this year, warmed up and used a heat pack, but decided against competing. McFadden did some hurdle drills and tried coming out of the blocks, but still felt pain.
“My whole thing was I just wanted to get through a (heptathlon), even if I wasn’t 100 percent, but I realized that you pretty much have to be 100 percent to get through seven events in two days (and) give it your all,” she said.
Irie Searcy is competing in the 200 and 400 this weekend. Searcy ran the 200 in 25.33 seconds in the Pepsi Invitational, No. 4 on Oregon’s season-best list, and 57.05 in the 400, No. 4 on that list, in the Oregon Invitational.
“I feel like I’m at a pretty good place,” Searcy said. “I’m excited where the season’s going and I definitely have room for improvement.”
The junior Searcy is a track and field veteran, having done four years of high school track, but after arriving from Lincoln High in Portland her freshman year in 2003-04, Searcy focused on academics and cites the architecture program as her reason for coming to Eugene. She walked on to the Oregon track program as a sophomore.
“My first year here I wasn’t planning on competing on a college team just because it’s a whole different ballgame than competing in high school, but it is such a big passion in my life that I was really excited to get up and do it again. So I don’t think it was so much that I wanted time off as that I needed to push myself to get to where I needed to be to compete.”
Freshman Keshia Baker has made a seamless transition to the Oregon track and field’s group of sprinters. Typically, it might feel like a homecoming for Baker this weekend, as she competes close to her native Sacramento, but her family has regularly made the seven-hour drive for Eugene track meets.
“I think I feel more at home here (at Hayward) with the crowd and having my team with me and everything,” Baker said. “I love it here.”
Baker released a sigh of relief in last weekend’s Oregon Invitational with her regional qualifying time in the 400 meters. Now, she says, she no longer has to focus on qualifying, but can concentrate on other events including the 200, 4×100, and 4×400, the latter a contender for a spot in the NCAA championships.”It’s nice that now I can just prepare myself to just go faster and try to win,” Baker said.
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