The time has come. After months of arduous preparation, endless workouts and weeks of prognostication, the stage has been set. Despite butterflies running rampant internally, your outside demeanor remains as cool as a tropical breeze.
Your heels dig into the blocks as the muffled cheers of the crowd wash over. With adrenaline pulsing, you grasp for whatever inner peace you can find. The official gives his first warning, and your body tenses in response. With your heart in your throat, you wait for the signal to attack.
Boom. Time to shock the world.
***
Welcome to the reality of English Gardner, the most elite sprinter to come through Oregon’s storied track and field program in years. The Voorhees, N.J., native is only a sophomore but faces daunting expectations in her second year of collegiate competition — and with good reason. @@http://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=4365&SPID=243&DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=500&ATCLID=204971131&Q_SEASON=2011@@
In 2011, Gardner put together one of the most impressive freshman seasons in program history, claiming a Pac-10 title in the 100 meters while also earning All-American status. Not only did Gardner, the Pac-10 Newcomer of the Year, set the American junior record in the 100 meters (11.03) — she saved her best performances for primetime, setting personal records in the 100 and 200 meters at the conference championships in Tucson, Ariz. @@http://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPID=243&DB_OEM_ID=500&ATCLID=205150849@@
One would expect that such execution results from uncanny internal composure. But in the world of track and field, the appearance of unmitigated confidence is usually nothing more than a mirage.
“Every meet you can probably count on me hovering over a trash can yakking,” Gardner says with a smile. “Because I’m a nervous wreck before any kind of race, no matter how big or small of a meet it is. It’s always something I have to work on, but it’ll probably be really bad come Nationals and Olympic trials.”
According to associate head coach Robert Johnson, Gardner is far from alone in her pre-race anxiety. @@http://www.goducks.com/SportSelect.dbml?&DB_OEM_ID=500&SPID=243&SPSID=4363@@
“Anytime you have a strong desire to do well and you put a ton of effort — your heart and soul and blood, sweat and tears into these wants and desires — there’s going to be a bit of nervousness every time you get a chance to showcase that,” Johnson says. “We talk about that. It’s nothing more than it is. It’s not bad to be nervous and feel nauseous. Science says it’s that whole fight-or-flight syndrome.”
What does Johnson tell his disciples in order to calm the inner storm?
“Don’t worry about those nerves,” Johnson says. “Those things are natural and it shows that you’re actually excited and ready for the competition. Don’t feel weirded out about those. Just use it as a positive. Your body is aware and at a heightened sense and ready to perform. That’s a good thing. If you were feeling down and normal, that’d probably be more of a problem.”
One of the emotional rocks for Gardner is her father, who’s constantly been a positive influence in her life. She says his role is simple but crucial to her success.
“Just talking,” Gardner says. “Motivating me. He’s been a calming voice since I was younger. He’s someone I’m confident in and I can confide in.”
***
Gardner gets additional support from fellow sophomore sprinter Mike Berry, a distinguished performer in his own right. As Gardner sits in the stands of Hayward Field getting her photo taken for this story, Berry can’t help but get a word in as he strolls over for an afternoon workout. @@http://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=4365&SPID=243&DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=500&ATCLID=204977356&Q_SEASON=2011@@
“You a superstar, English!” he shouts with a cackle as the shutter clicks away. “You big time now!”
English can only grin and shout back her own words of encouragement. Gardner and Berry — last year’s Pac-10 champion in the 400 meters and a two-time All-American — have formed an amicable rivalry that both use to throw more fuel on the competitive fire.
“He definitely motivates me,” Gardner says. “We have a little rivalry going on; he wants to be like me, and I want to be like him. So we make sure both of us are great so that we just keep working to be better than each other. We definitely have a little family camaraderie going, and we all pull each other together and play around.”
Not that Gardner is lacking a cutthroat mentality. One of her go-to phrases in interviews is a stated desire to “shock the world,” and it looks unlikely she’ll ever back down from those ambitions.
“I feel like I’ll never be able to fully shock the world the way I want to,” Gardner says. “It’s something that; it’ll always just get me to keep going and keep pushing. It’s just a little mechanism I use to keep motivated every day.”
After spending a few minutes with Gardner, it becomes clear that she truly does approach every single day with the same ferocity that paved her road to Eugene. Despite exceeding expectations in 2011, she says 2012 is a whole new ball game.
“Everything is different,” Gardner says. “The way I approached it (was) totally as if I never even ran last year and did all I did. This season is definitely different for me; nothing is ever the same, so I’m just trying to go out there with a clean slate and get the job done.”
Johnson independently backs those sentiments with words of his own.
“On a day-to-day basis I see someone that’s humble and grounded and comes out and grinds and works hard every day,” he says. “You know, you can’t ask for much more than that. Someone that does exactly what you ask, without having any issues, and do it to the best of their abilities. Doesn’t get much better than that.”
He says long-term progress isn’t easy, but that Gardner has shown definitive signs of development, such as taking on longer events and learning the distinctions between indoor and outdoor competition.
“On a season-to-season basis, it’s probably a little hard to tell because we’re just getting into the meat of what we call our ‘championships season,’” Johnson says. “But she’s showing progress. She’s ahead of where she was last year as a freshman.”
***
During the early part of this outdoor season, when Johnson repeatedly held Gardner out of her favored shorter events, the sprinter metaphorically referred to herself as a caged lion waiting to be unleashed. After making her name at last year’s conference meet, Gardner sounds more than self-assured coming into the inaugural Pac-12 Championships this weekend. The women are three-time defending champions, while the men are looking for their sixth-straight conference title.
“I read the blogs, I go on the Internet and I see the rankings and what’s going on and happening in the track world,” Gardner says. “I never let it bother me; I see we’re ranked No. 7 but in my eyes we’re still No. 1. We’re going to go out there and get the job done. We have phenomenal athletes on our team and they’re going to pull their bootstraps up and we’re going to work hard to get a repeat and I would love to win another title. I want to do everything I can personally to get the job done, of course.”
With the Pac-12s, West Regionals, NCAAs and Olympic Trials all fast approaching, it’s time for the world to see what Gardner has to deliver.
“I can’t wait,” she says. “It’s been caged up for a long time and hopefully I get let out. If not, I’ll just sit tight.”